Lamar sports information

BEAUMONT — The Lamar Cardinals play their first home game in nearly a month when they host the New Orleans Privateers in a Southland Conference women’s basketball game at 7 tonight in the Montagne Center.

The Cardinals (7-5, 2-0 Southland) haven’t played at home since a 116-37 win over Schreiner on Dec. 4. The Cardinals, who are 4-0 at home this season, have won 19 straight home games dating back to last season, when they were a perfect 15-0 at the Montagne Center.

“We take pride in playing well at home,” LU coach Robin Harmony said. “We opened conference play with two wins on the road. We have to keep that momentum going at home.”

New Orleans (5-8, 1-1) is led by senior guard Randi Brown, the Southland Conference’s top scorer. Brown averages 22.6 points per game, good for sixth in the nation.

“Randi Brown is a dangerous scorer, who has gotten better this season,” Harmony said. “She is obviously a candidate for player of the year in our conference.”

LU comes in off a pair of convincing victories on the road, a 79-51 win at Houston Baptist and a 70-31 triumph at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. The Cardinals used a pressure defense that gave the Huskies and Islanders fits, as those two teams combined for 66 turnovers.

“Our defense leads to our offense,” Harmony said. “We did a good job of that this past weekend.”

The Cardinals average 29.5 points per game off turnovers, while LU’s opponents manage just 12.2 points per game in the same category. The Cardinals lead the nation in steals at 17.2 per game and in turnover margin at plus 14.00 per contest. LU junior guard Chastadie Barrs leads the nation in steals at 6.42 per game. Barrs, who has at least one steal in all 73 games of her career, enters Wednesday’s game with 342 career steals, 17 shy of the Southland Conference record of 359 held by Nina Randle of Louisiana-Monroe.

Moe Kinard leads the Cardinals in scoring at 14.7 per game, followed by Barrs at 13.0 per game. Barrs leads the conference in steals and assists, averaging 6.42 in each category. Her assist/turnover ratio or 2.1 also leads the SLC.

Following tonight’s game, the Cardinals take to the road for two games, visiting defending champion Central Arkansas at 1 p.m. Saturday before heading to Southeastern Louisiana at 7 p.m. Jan. 10. LU’s next home game is 7 p.m. Jan. 17 against Incarnate Word.

ALL-TIME SERIES

The Cardinals hold a 21-16 edge all-time vs. New Orleans, including a 6-0 edge since Harmony took over as LU coach. Last season, the Cardinals were 2-0 against the Privateers, winning 73-42 at the Montagne Center and 66-56 in New Orleans.

PROMOTIONS

Fans attending tonight’s game will receive free T-shirts courtesy of Coca-Cola while supplies last. In addition, fans will have the opportunity to win LU merchandise as part of the New Year, New Gear! promotion. The LU freshmen will sign autographs for all fans after the game.