SLC-leading Lamar methodically puts away Lady Demons

BEAUMONT, Texas – The short-handed Northwestern State women’s basketball team knew it didn’t have much margin for error Wednesday night.

Southland Conference-leading Lamar exploited that razor-thin margin, methodically pulling away for a 71-44 victory at the Montagne Center.

“There was a point where fatigue set in,” said second-year head coach Jordan Dupuy, who had eight available players at his disposal. “We had 29 turnovers but about half of those were unforced. We were panicking instead of being poised. They keep you pressured. They run and jump at you all game, but we had a lot of unforced errors.”

Lamar (16-6, 11-1) turned those 29 turnovers into 29 points, leading to a plus-23 advantage in that category.

The Lady Demons (7-16, 2-10) started strong, hitting 4 of their first 8 shots, and trailed by just six after the first quarter. However, the Cardinals’ defense took its toll on NSU’s short-handed roster.

Moe Kinard paced Lamar’s offense with a game-high 21 points, connecting on 8 of 16 shots, while Chastadie Barrs, the nation’s steals leader at 6.5 per game, collected five more along with a game-high nine assists.

Although the Lady Demons outshot the Cardinals by one-tenth of a percent, Lamar made up for it on the glass, outrebounding Northwestern State by 10. Lamar, the nation’s third-best offensive rebounding team, grabbed 20 offensive rebounds, turning them into 21 second-chance points.

“We did not do a great job on the glass,” Dupuy said. “We were a step slow to a lot of balls on the floor. We had chances to come up with loose balls and they took it away from us.”

For the second time in two weeks, Leah Barnes scored 14 points, equaling her career high. Barnes hit 7 of 9 shots from the field, setting a new career best for shots made in a single game.

Barnes was Northwestern State’s lone double-figure scorer. Jocelyn Scott added nine points for the Lady Demons. Meanwhile, Lamar, which played 13 players, had Kinard, DeA’ngela Mathis (13) and Jadyn Pimentel (11) reach double figures.
“There was some good execution,” Dupuy said. “The first possession of the second quarter was very good. The first play of the second half, we ran a set where we knew we could exploit them with the play they guard the ball screen. Jocelyn did a great job and fed Leah, who made a nice move and scored it. So, yes, there are some positives, but we need two scorers and tonight, we only had one.”

The Lady Demons stay on the road, facing Stephen F. Austin on Saturday. Tipoff is set for 3:30 p.m. at William R. Johnson Coliseum.