Lamar women win fourth straight, remain perfect at home

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Williams & Williams Lead Lady Cardinals Past IUPUI 61-54

Lamar women win fourth straight, remain perfect at home

November 27, 2007 - 10:58PM

Del.icio.us |  Digg | Print Story | E-Mail Story | Font Size    BEAUMONT - The Lamar University women's basketball team used the one-two combination of Brittney Williams and Nikki Williams to pick up their fourth straight win, a 61-54 triumph over IUPUI at the Montagne Center on Tuesday night.

The win is the fourth straight for the Lady Cardinals, who remain perfect at the Montagne Center this season. They improve to 5-2 on the year as they prepare to head to Chicago State for a 2 p.m. showdown in Chicago on Saturday. The Jaguars fall to 3-4 with the loss.

Holding a 25-20 lead at halftime, the Lady Cardinals used a 7-2 run in the first two minutes of the second half to open up a 10-point lead at 32-22 with 17:56 to play. The run was keyed by a Nikki Williams three pointer and layup, while Tamara Abalde knocked down a jumper to give them a 10 point advantage.

Lamar did not allow the Jaguars to get any closer than eight points until the final minute of the game, building their lead to as much as 13 points on two occasions. The Lady Cards went up by 13 with 5:53 on a Nikki Williams three, and again on a pair of Trashanna Smith free throws with 4:39 to play.

Williams triple with 5:53 to play proved to be the final field goal the Lady Cards would make in the game. Lamar however was able to hold of the Jaguars late run by knocking down eight of their 11 free throw attempts down the stretch. Nikki Williams nailed the door shut with 28 seconds to play with a pair of free throws, giving Lamar a 61-54 lead.

In the first half the Lady Cardinals struggled to get their offense on track, shooting just 14 percent from the field for the first eight minutes of the game. After they found their stride Lamar went on to shoot 45.5 percent from the field, knocking down 10 of their 22 shots.

Brittney Williams caught fire midway through the first half and proved to be too much to handle for IUPUI. The sophomore forward made her final six shots of the half and knocked down a pair of free throws to finish 6-7 from the field with 14 points, while grabbing a team-high seven rebounds.

Brittney Williams finished the game8-10 from the field with a season-high 18 points and nine rebounds, while Nikki Williams finished the night with 16 points, five rebounds, five assists and four steals. Aida Bakhos also came up big for Lamar, tallying nine points while grabbing seven boards.

IUPUI was led by Jernisha Cann's double-double of 17 points and 11 rebounds, while Amy Cook added 11 points. Nicole James also finished the game in double figures, scoring 10 points off the bench for the Jaguars.

As a team the Lady Cardinals finished the game with a 40.8 field goal percentage, while their defense held IUPUI to 35 percent shooting from the floor. Lamar also won the battle on the boards, out rebounding the Jaguars 40-35.

[Guest abovetherim]

It was a fun game to watch. Coach Tidwell has these ladies playing TEAM basketball. Albalde did not play much and they still won. Earlier in the season, LU would have lost this game.