HAMMOND, La. – Southeastern Louisiana's Southland Conference matchup with Lamar was a clash of styles Thursday night.

    In the end, as in the old fable, slow and steady beat speed once again as the Lady Lions rallied from a 14-point first quarter deficit for a 73-66 win in the University Center.

    Lamar (6-10, 2-3) came out smoking, shooting 57.9 percent in taking a 27-15 first quarter lead. But Southeastern (3-12, 2-2) came back to out-score the Cardinals 21-7 in taking a 34-32 halftime lead, then pulled away with a 17-7 run to open the third quarter.

    "We tried to slow the game down for us," Yolanda Moore said. "We're not an up and down, back and forth team. We're a half court team. I told them to play like we've been preparing for the game and to just play smart. Execute on offense, take our time, value each possession, value the basketball."

    Southeastern had one of its most balanced efforts of the season with four players in double figures. Nanna Pool had her sixth double-double of the season with 18 points and 10 rebounds. KaeLynn Boyd added 15 points, seven assists, six rebounds and three steals. Taylin Underwood had 13 points, eight rebounds and three assists while Erica Hernandez also finished with 13 points, eight coming in the fourth quarter. Peaches Anderson just missed joining those four with eight points. The Lady Lions shot 45 percent for the game, 46.7 percent in the second half.

    Lamar was led by Addesha Collins with 24 points, five points and three assists. Kiara Desamours had a double-double with 15 points and 12 rebounds while Teleshia Riley added 11 points. Chastadie Barrs finished with seven points, eight rebounds and eight assists.

    Pool opened the second quarter surge with a layup with 8:39 remaining and Boyd followed with another at the 8-minute mark. Three-pointers by Anderson and Underwood trimmed the deficit to 27-25 with 7:03 left in the half.

    Lamar got the lead back to five on a Desamours layup at the 5:29 mark. But Boyd tied the game at 32 with a free throw with 2:52 left. After a layup by Lejha Smith regained the lead for the Cardinals with 2:38 left, Kyle Felton put back a miss by Boyd to tie it 21 seconds later. Boyd then took a steal in with 59 seconds left to give the Lady Lions a 36-34 halftime lead.

    Southeastern scored the first five points of the second half, taking a 41-34 lead on a jumper by Pool with 9:04 left in the third. After a 3 by Khali Pippins-Tryon, the Lady Lions countered with an 8-0 run, going up 49-37 on a 3 by Anderson at the 5:23 mark. The Cardinals got the lead down to 52-46 on a putback by Desamours, but two Underwood free throws pushed the margin back to 57-47 going into the fourth.

    A pair of 3s and a jumper by Hernandez gave Southeastern its biggest lead at 67-52 with 6:55 remaining in the game. Lamar would get no closer than the final score the rest of the way.

    "There was a bit of a spurt in there where Lamar was getting offensive rebounds at will so we had to adjust to that," Moore said. "I think that was from being tired. We had a good bit of starters who played a lot of minutes. Fatigue did set in and that always begins to weigh on you mentally but I thought we had a total team effort, from everybody who played to the players who didn't play. They were involved, they were cheering their teammates on. They were supportive and that's what we needed coming into tonight."

    Lamar jumped out to a 10-0 lead on a Collins' 3-pointer with 6:56 left in the first. Underwood got Southeastern on the board with a 3 at the 6:33 mark. The Lady Lions whittled the deficit down to 18-13 on two Hernandez free throws with 2:35 left. But a pair of baskets by Barrs and a put back by Riley made it a 14-point game before Pool scored off a putback at the buzzer to make it 27-15 at the end of the period.

    Southeastern remains at home to host Incarnate Word Saturday at 1 p.m.