BEAUMONT — Lamar women’s basketball coach Robin Harmony both won and lost Saturday.
The host Cardinals defeated Incarnate Word 59-49 and then Harmony announced Ja’Meisha Edwards left the team with six games left on the schedule.
Harmony said Edwards became frustrated with a lack of playing time since returning to action after missing several games with a concussion. Edwards became the 12th Lamar player to score 1,000 career points on Jan. 7 and finishes at No. 12 on the Cardinals’ (10-13, 6-6) all-time scoring list with 1,035 points.
Harmony chocked up when addressing Edwards’ sudden departure that she said was made official via a text from Edwards Friday.
“She has decided not to play,” Harmony said. “I don’t get it. I don’t get it at all. You can only coach the willing. If you don’t want to be here we can’t help you.”
Chastadie Barrs, who scored 19 points with eight rebounds Saturday, said the LU Cardinals have no choice but to move forward without Edwards.
“It is unfortunate Ja’Meisha decided not to play,” Barrs said. “She is still supporting us but we have to continue our season. This has made the rest of the team closer.”
Addesha Collins, now the only senior left on the Lamar roster, had a game-high 22 points on 6 of 8 shooting against Incarnate Word (6-15, 3-7). She hit all nine of her free throw attempts.
Lamar survived a 15-1 Incarnate Word run to end the first quarter and to start the second that gave the visitors a 19-14 lead.
UIW led 25-24 at the break before Lamar found both its offense and defense in the third.
Lamar outscored UIW 19-7 in the third and caused 19 turnovers in the game.
“I don’t think it was a pretty win,” Harmony said. “I think we came off the big win against Abilene on Thursday night and I think we were a little slow to start. It is a credit to these two beside me (Barrs and Collins) because they never caved in. Addesha hit all the big time, clutch shots. That was the nail in the coffin for us. She Collins) is always consistent.”
Lamar used a six-man rotation against Incarnate Word with Laka Blache (9 points, 9 rebounds) playing all 40 minutes and Barrs and Kiara Desamours playing 39.
“We need to learn from this that we have to show up for every single game,” Harmony said. “We played maybe for three quarters today. It is better to learn that lesson off a W than a loss.”
Lamar heads to Houston Baptist Wednesday and then takes a week off before playing host to Stephen F. Austin on Feb. 18.