HAMMOND, La. – The play-by-play shows Incarnate Word's Brianna Williams scored the winning points with 31 seconds remaining in the Cardinals'70-66 Southland Conference victory over Southeastern Louisiana Saturday but Lady Lions head coach Yolanda Moore said that was not when the game was decided.

    "They made some tough baskets but we came out sluggish," Moore said of a first quarter in which Incarnate Word (4-11, 1-3) shot 71.4 percent in jumping out to a 27-17 lead. "I told them we didn't lose this game in the second half. The game was decided in the first quarter. We came out and we weren't executing, we weren't sprinting up and down the floor, we really weren't blocking out because they weren't missing. Offensively, we couldn't get anything going."

    Southeastern (3-13, 2-3) missed on an opportunity for a third straight home conference win before opening a four-game road trip at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Thursday night. The Lady Lions rallied from a double-digit deficit to take a halftime lead for the second game in a row, but unlike in Thursday's 73-66 win over Lamar, could not put Incarnate Word away in the second half.

    Erica Hernandez knocked down a 3-pointer, her third of the game, to give Southeastern a 49-48 lead with 9:03 remaining. She added another with 6:30 left to put the Lady Lions up 56-51. The 3 was the 102^nd of her career, moving her into sixth place on the Lady Lions' all-time list.

    A Nanna Pool pushed the lead to 60-53 with 4:12 left. But a 3 by Haley Frias and two by Melina Merritt allowed UIW to tie the game at 62 with 2:47 remaining. Pool hit the front end of two free throws to give Southeastern's its final lead at the 1:14 mark.

    After Williams put UIW ahead, she knocked away a pass intended for Pool inside with 12 seconds left. Following three fouls, Yvonne Maoso hit two free throws to make it 68-65 with 7 seconds remaining. KaeLynn Boyd was fouled before getting a 3 off with 5 seconds left. She hit the first of two free throws but was called for a lane violation on the second. Merritt missed two free throws on the other end but grabbed the rebound and was fouled before hitting the clinching foul shots with 2 seconds left.

    Pool finished with a team-high 19 points, becoming the 12^th Lady Lion with 1,100 career points with a jumper with 7:51 left in the first quarter. She also led Southeastern with six rebounds, three steals and a block. Taylin Underwood added 16 points while Hernandez had 13. Peaches Anderson tossed in eight points and had three assists while Boyd had six points, five rebounds, six assists and two steals. The Lady Lions shot 47.2 percent for the game, 52 percent in the second half.

    Incarnate Word, which overcame being held without a field goal in the second quarter, snapped a 10-game losing streak. Williams had 19 points and a game-high seven rebounds while Merritt had 18 points and Maosa 16. The Cardinals shot 44.7 percent overall.

    Incarnate Word scored 11 of the first 13 points in the third quarter to take a 40-33 lead on a pair of Williams free throws with 5:34 left in the third. Underwood cut the deficit to 43-41 with a 3 at the two-minute mark. After a Baker jumper, a 3 by Underwood and a jumper by Pool regained the lead for Southeastern with 1:06 left. But a pair of Maosa free throws and one by Williams gave the Cardinals a 48-46 lead going into the fourth quarter.

    Southeastern opened the second quarter on a 7-0 run to get to within 27-24 on a jumper by Pool at the 7:26 mark. Williams scored UIW's only points of the quarter on two free throws with 5:41 left. A 3 by Underwood and an Anderson layup off a steal by Boyd tied the game at 29 at the 3:44 mark before Pool gave the Lady Lions a 31-29 halftime lead with a jumper with 1:45 left. UIW was 0-for-11 from the field in the period.

    "They decided to play hard," Moore said of the difference between the first and second quarters. "We didn't change anything. We just decided to go out and play. I tell them all the time – we're not good enough where we can decide which night we're going to go out and play hard and which night we don't. We have to have a consistent effort every time we step out on the court."

    Incarnate Word hit its first six shots, including two 3s by Merritt and one each by Williams and Frias, in taking a 17-4 lead with 5:47 left. Southeastern came back with an 8-2 run to get to within 19-12 on a Boyd 3 with 3:07 remaining. The Cardinals continued to hit from the outside, however, as a 3 by Merritt made it 27-17 at the end of the quarter. UIW shot 71.4 percent (10-of-14) in the quarter, making 6-of-7 3s.