BEAUMONT, Texas — Limiting Howard Payne to just one point in the first eight minutes and 36 points total, Lamar University's women's basketball team rode a phenomenal defensive effort and strong shooting in a rout of the Lady Jackets. The Cardinals won 96-36 in front of 3,856 cheering fans from the Beaumont Independent School District on Monday morning.
"We had a lot of people contribute on the offensive end and a lot of great things on the defensive end that I'm really happy about," said head coach Aqua Franklin. "Ashlan Miles played her heart out today with seven steals, and jumped start us off the bench. We also welcomed Jadyn Pimentel back today. I'm super excited about these ladies that I'm leading. I think they're playing super hard for me, and they're tremendous athletes as we saw today."
Lamar's defensive effort was remarkable from the opening tip. Howard Payne turned the ball over in its first three possessions, then missed two free throws and two field goals in the next three possessions. Five more missed free throws, two more turnovers, and one more missed field goal totaled an 0-for-13 start for the Lady Jackets. HPU made the backend of a pair of free throws to finally get on the board with just 4:42 left in the first quarter, and had two more missed shots and a turnover before finally making its first bucket with just 2:01 left in the period. In the meantime Lamar was effective on the other end of the court, scoring 15 points before the Lady Jackets managed to score their first basket. At the end of the first Lamar led by 10 points, 17-7. Big Red had eight points off turnovers in the first quarter.
The Cardinals carried that aggression on defense over to the second quarter, scoring 13 of their 29 points in the period off of HPU turnovers. Amber Vidal had her biggest quarter of the game, shooting 4-for-4 from the field including 2-of-2 from three for 10 points. Shedricka Pierson poured in another eight points in the second, and three of Ashlan Miles' seven steals in the game came in the second. The Cards held the Lady Jackets to just 28.6 percent shooting while outscoring HPU 29-17 in the second quarter. At the half Lamar led 46-17 with 50 percent shooting from the floor, a 37.5 percent mark from beyond the arc, and a 75 percent clip from the penalty stripe.
Big Red's sizable lead grew even more in the third quarter. Jadyn Pimentel hit the court for the first time this season and scored seven points off the bench in the final 5:34 of the quarter. She also had one assist, three steals, and drew three fouls. For the game Pimentel had nine points on 4-of-11 shooting, eight steals, two rebounds, and an assist. Angel Hastings had six points in the third on a 2-for-4 clip with an assist, a steal, and one rebound. With five points from Vidal the trio of guards accounted for 18 of Lamar's 27 points in the third, and LU outscored Howard Payne 27-12 in those 10 minutes. Through three quarters Lamar led 73-29.
The Cardinal defense was a force again in the final 10 minutes of the game, limiting Howard Payne to just seven points on 27.3 percent shooting including a 1-for-7 mark beyond the arc. LU forced 10 turnovers and scored 11 points off those turnovers to score 23 points that quarter. Lamar won the game 96-36, winning by 60 points.
Lamar will return to action on Thursday on the road at North Carolina State. The Cardinals and Wolfpack will tip at 6 p.m. on ACCNX.
Lady Cardinals blast Howard Payne
Lamar travels to NC State Thursday