FRISCO, Texas — As Lamar University’s women’s basketball season gets set for the upcoming 2022-2023, they also are preparing to return to the Southland Conference after a year hiatus in the Western Athletic Conference. With the conference releasing their preseason polls and teams, LU is predicted to finish fourth in the polls with 103 points while Akasha Davis was selected as a second team member.
Of the top five teams in the poll, LU is the only school not to receive one of the 20 first place votes, but their previous season as well as previous history in the conference earned them 103 points. Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (11 first place votes) is picked to finish first. Houston Christian (five first place votes) finished in second with 131 points. Nine points behind in third place is Southeastern Louisiana (three first place votes). Texas A&M-Commerce is also a newcomer in the conference that’s in the top five as with one first place vote, they earned 101 points. McNeese (98 points), UIW (64 points), Northwestern State (61 points), New Orleans (47 points), and Nicholls (25 points) rounded out the sixth through tenth spots in the list.
Although she has yet to play a game in the SLC, Davis has earned the respect from the conference to put her as a second teamer following last season’s successful freshman season in the WAC. Finishing as the Cardinals’ leading scorer (12.5 ppg) and rebounder (6.8 rpg), the Dallas native tallied six double-doubles last season and scored a season-high 27 points against Howard Payne (11/12/21). She collected five WAC Freshman Player of the Week awards and was the conference’s freshman of the year to go along with second-team honors.
Last season, the Cardinals finished 14-15 overall and 8-10 in the conference, which got them a seventh seed in the WAC tournament. LU would advance to the second round after beating New Mexico State before having their season end with a loss against Sam Houston. LU’s last season in the SLC saw them go 10-14 overall and 9-6 in the conference. They would reach the conference tournament before ending their season in the first round.
LU returns nine members from the 21-22 season including Davis, Sabria Dean, Malay McQueen, NJ Weems, Portia Adams, Emma Immevbore, Bebe Galloway, Brooklyn Mitchell, and Taliah Hill. Joining the Cardinals’ squad will be sophomore transfer Anaya Bernard and incoming freshmen Alyiah Craft and R’mani Taylor.
The Cardinals will have an exhibition home game against East Texas Baptist University on November 5th at 1:00 p.m. Two days later, their season begins as LU travels to Waco to meet up with the Baylor Bears at 7:00 p.m.