First-place Wildcats rout Cardinal women
Published 7:03 pm Saturday, January 30, 2016
Lamar sports information
ABILENE — Freshman Kiara Desamours poured in a career-high 23 points en route to her fourth double-double of the season, but the Lamar Cardinals dropped a 90-62 decision to first-place Abilene Christian in a Southland Conference women’s basketball game Saturday.
Desamours, the preseason conference freshman of the year as selected by CollegeSportsMadness.com, hauled own 11 rebounds for the Cardinals (8-13 overall, 4-6 Southland). It was the sixth straight game she scored in double figures and the 10th time this season she had at least 10 points.
Sophomore Laka Blache had her third double-double of the season for LU, totaling 12 points, 11 rebounds and a career-high four steals. Freshman guard Chastadie Barrs added 12 points for LU. She also had one steal as she maintained her steak of coming up with a theft in each of her games.
“Our young players keep producing for us,” LU coach Robin Harmony said. “They keep getting better each time out.”
Their efforts weren’t enough against the Wildcats (18-2, 9-0), who ran their winning streak to 14 games. The Wildcats took control early in the game, going on a 19-0 run over a span of 4 minutes, 28 seconds in the first quarter to turn a 6-5 deficit into a 24-6 lead with 2:56 remaining in the opening period.
Abilene Christian shot 60 percent (9 of 15) from the field in the first quarter, including 50 percent (5 of 10) from three-point range. The Wildcats led 41-28 at intermission before outscoring the Cardinals 27-12 in the third quarter to pull away.
For the game, the Wildcats shot 52.5 percent (32 of 61) from the floor, including 45.5 percent (15 of 33) from beyond the arc.
The Cardinals couldn’t match Abilene Christian’s marksmanship. LU shot 32.8 percent (22 of 67) from the field, while making just 5.6 percent (1 of 18) of its three-point attempts.
Whitney West led ACU with 18 points. Alexis Mason had 17 points and 13 rebounds. Suzzy Dimba had 17 points, Sara Williamson added 13 points and Lizzy Dimba finished with 11 points in the win.
The Cardinals will look to even things with the Wildcats when they host ACU at 7 p.m. Thursday in the Montagne Center. That game will be shown live on ESPN3.com.
About I.C. Murrell
I.C. Murrell was promoted to editor of The News, effective Oct. 14, 2019. He previously served as sports editor since August 2015 and has won or shared eight first-place awards from state newspaper associations and corporations. He was born in Memphis, Tennessee, grew up mostly in Pine Bluff, Arkansas, and graduated from the University of Arkansas at Monticello.
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