BEAUMONT, Texas – The Southeastern Louisiana University women's basketball team fell to Lamar, 66-54 after a defensive battle in the Montagne Center Thursday evening.
In a battle of two of the best teams in the Southland Conference, the Lady Lions (17-9, 12-4 Southland) saw their six-game win streak snapped against the Cardinals (17-10, 11-5 SLC), who have now won their last seven straight contests.
Jen Pierre scored a career-high 21 points, while also adding four assists and three steals.
Hailey Giaratano added 12 points, five rebounds and four assists.
Natalie Kelly led with seven rebounds.
After an evenly played first quarter that saw the teams finish deadlocked, 14-14, Lamar took control of the game for good in the second period. The Cardinals outscored SLU, 21-6, in the period and took a 33-20 lead into the halftime break.
Lamar would grow the lead to as many as 18 in the third quarter and went into the final period with a 49-35 cushion. Southeastern would not go away quietly, however.
A Pierre layup capped a 10-2 Lady Lion run and cut the lead to 57-51 with just under three minutes left. Lamar would answer by scoring the game's next six points to put the game away.
Lamar was led by Akasha Davis, who finished with a double-double effort of 22 points and 16 rebounds. Davis was one of three LU players in double figures, along with Portia Adams (16 points) and Sabria Dean (13 points). Davis' effort on the glass helped the Cards to a 42-30 rebounding advantage.
In the loss, the Lady Lions would finish the game with 11 bench points, 12 fast break points, 21 points off of turnovers, nine second chance points and 10 steals.
With two games left in the regular season, Southeastern is tied atop the Southland Conference standings with Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, though the Lady Lions have the tiebreaker over the Islanders due to sweeping the season series. Lamar's hot streak down the stretch has moved the Cardinals within one game of the league lead.
Southeastern will close out its home schedule Saturday, hosting McNeese at 1 p.m. in the University Center. The game will be televised on ESPN3. Prior to the game, Kelly,
Cierria Cunningham,
Chrissy Brown and
Jaylen Huderson will be honored in a Senior Day ceremony.
SOCIAL MEDIA
For more information on Southeastern Women's Basketball, follow @LionUpWBB on Twitter, like /SoutheasternWBB on Facebook and subscribe to the SLUathletics YouTube channel.
CLEAR BAG POLICY
Southeastern Athletics has instituted a clear bag policy for all ticketed events, effective with the start of football season. For more information on the clear bag policy, visit
www.LionSports.net/clear.
