BEAUMONT — Lamar’s season comes down to three games.
The Cardinals enter tonight’s 7 p.m. home game against McNeese State tied with Texas A&M-Corpus Christi for seventh place in the Southland Conference. Both Lamar (10-16, 6-9) and A&M-CC (10-16, 6-9) are a half-game ahead of Sam Houston State (9-15, 5-9). Abilene Christian (22-3, 13-1) is in first but is ineligible for postseason play.
This is the second time in less than a week the Cardinals and Cowgirls (17-10, 9-6) face each other. McNeese rallied from an 18-point deficit Saturday to beat Lamar 92-84 in Lake Charles, La.
“Every one of these games gets bigger and bigger until we get ourselves into the conference tournament,” Lamar coach Robin Harmony said. “We played a great 30 minutes against SFA last week and also against McNeese but then we crumbled. We got tentative and didn’t attack. We have a bunch of freshmen and sophomores with one senior. We are not seeing a lot of leadership right now and it shows.”
Harmony said the Cardinals are not doing a good job talking to each other when things go bad on the court.
“Everyone is going to make a run, we know that,” she added. “We don’t huddle when we get down to relax each other. At some point the players have to take care of it on their own.”
The Cardinals celebrate Senior Night tonight and the lone honoree is Lamar’s leading scorer, Addesha Collins.
Collins averages 15.7 points per game and has put in 25.2 over the last five contests.
“You want to send your senior out with a win in their final home game,” Harmony said. “Addesha is a fan favorite. She works hard and doesn’t know the word quit.”
Chastadie Barrs leads the youth of Lamar and is second in the nation with 4.15 steals a game. She is second behind Northwestern’s Ashley Deary, who averages 4.21 steals a game.
“Our team has to learn their lessons,” Harmony said. “Our future is so bright and this year we are trying to survive. They have to learn each possession matters.”
The Cardinals close out the regular season on the road with a visit to Incarnate Word at 2 p.m. Saturday before facing Sam Houston State in Huntsville at 6:30 p.m. March 2.