BEAUMONT, Texas — Redshirt junior Micaela Wilson helped lead the Lamar University women's basketball program to their second Southland victory on Saturday afternoon over Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, 54-50, at the Montagne Center.
"Find a way," said head coach Aqua Franklin. "We do not want to keep them close. In a game like tonight, we were down a few players and shots were not falling in the second half. Corpus got on a roll in the third quarter and they had the momentum. At that point, you have to find a way to get it done and that is what we did. We got a huge stop down the stretch with a huge rebound by Jadyn and she hit two huge free throws. We just try to find a way to win."
The Cardinals opened the contest on a 7-0 run over the Islanders, but only shot 29 percent in the frame compared to AMCC shooting 43 percent in the first period. Freshman Sabria Dean continued to shine for the Cards has she produced four points in the first frame and led in minutes with nine. Turnovers proved costly early for both teams as both programs combined for 20 turnovers in the first frame, but it was Lamar that took advantage of the Islander turnovers and scored 10 points after getting the ball off turnovers.
The Islanders were able to make the second frame more even has turnovers for each team were kept below 10. Redshirt junior Micaela Wilson tallied 11 points in the second period The Cardinals kept AMCC at 30 percent shooting in the frame compared to Lamar outshooting the Islanders in the frame at 35 percent. The Cardinals used a five-point run before the second period media to keep control of the game before Paige Allen of AMCC made a layup to try to mount an Islander comeback. Lamar tallied 12 points in the paint to take a 27-16 lead into the halftime break.
Texas A&M-Corpus Christi came out of the gates firing in the third period as they shot 53 percent in the frame and they limited Big Red to just 25 percent in the frame. The Cardinals were able to hold off a slight comeback by AMCC as they were sent to the line seven times during the third frame and made 86 percent of the free throws to help keep the lead in favor of Lamar heading into the fourth.
The fourth quarter saw many defensive stands as there was only a combined 23 points scored in the fourth frame. The Islanders turned the ball over six times in the frame and the Cards were able to capitalize on some of the turnover has the scored four points on turnovers in the frame. Texas A&M-Corpus Christi went on to tie the game at 45 a piece at the 7:12 mark in the fourth, but both teams went on to trade scores until the Islanders fouled the Cards at the end of the game and senior Jadyn Pimentel hit both of the free throws to propel Lamar to a 54-50 win over Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.
Wilson recorded her first double-double of her Cardinal career has she finished with 19 points and 11 rebounds on the afternoon. Pimentel tallied 12 points as the only other Cardinal to reach double digits. Freshman Sabria Dean contributed nine points and three steals on the afternoon.
UP NEXT: The Cardinals will go on a three-game road trip beginning with a contest at Incarnate Word on Wednesday, January 20 in San Antonio. Tipoff is slated for a 6:30 p.m. start.
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