Saint Louis Downs Lamar 79-54 at Battle at the Border Tournament

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Trashanna Smith scores career-high 10 points for Lady Cardinals

Dec. 28, 2007

EDINBURG, Texas - The Lamar University women's basketball team dropped their opening game of the Battle at the Border Tournament, falling to the Saint Louis Billikens 79-54 at the UTPA Field House in Edinburg, Texas.

Trailing by 15 points at halftime, the Lady Cardinals were not able to put together a second half run, as Saint Louis hit their first six shots of the second half to bury Lamar. The Billikens outscored LU 37-27 in the second half, opening as much as a 33 point lead.

The Billikens opened the game on a 10-3 run, but Lamar quickly responded and closed the game to two points at 12-10, but could never fully close the gap. The two teams seesawed back and forth for until SLU opened a double digit lead with eight minutes to play. They built their lead to as much as 15 points on two occasions, the final time coming at the break when they led 42-27.

The Lady Cardinals offense could not get going in the first half, as turnovers and missed free throws prevented them from cutting into the Saint Louis lead which was built from transition baskets off of LU's 13 giveaways.

Lamar posted a respectable 41.2 percent field goal percentage in the opening 20 minutes, but only got off 17 shots, making seven. The Billikens on the other hand were hot offensively, shooting 50 percent from the field, going 15-30 from the field.

The Lady Cardinals were led by Nikki Williams' 15 points while Tamara Abalde added 12 points. Trashanna Smith also netted double digits for LU, scoring a career-high 10 points.

As a team the Lady Cards shot 41 percent from the field, while Saint Louis shot 44.6 percent, but SLU won the rebounding battle 40-24. Turnovers were also costly for Lamar, as the Lady Cardinals turned the ball over 23 times to the Billikens' 19.   

The Lady Cardinals will be in action again on Saturday when they take on Lafayette at 5 p.m.

http://lamarcardinals.cstv.com/sports/w-baskbl/recaps/122807aaa.html