Late scoring drought dooms Lamar in Southland Conference championship game

A scoring drought came at the worst possible time for the Lamar University women’s basketball team during the final moments of Thursday’s Southland Conference championship game. 

The Cardinals failed to score over the final 3:55 of game action, allowing Southeastern Louisiana to hold on for a 66-57 victory at the Legacy Center in Lake Charles. Lamar missed its last eight shots of the game and scored just 21 total points in the second half to narrowly miss out on an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. 

Even while struggling through the scoring drought, Lamar stayed in the game with its stifling defense and poor fourth-quarter shooting from Southeastern Louisiana. The Lions didn’t make a shot in the last 4:30 of the contest, but converted on nine free throw attempts in the final period. 

“We didn’t finish,” Lamar head coach Aqua Franklin said. “We allowed the moment to get a little too big for us.”

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Lamar’s first half went according to plan. The Cardinals started the game on a 9-2 scoring run and led 19-10 after the first quarter. The 9-point lead stayed consistent at halftime. 

Then the third quarter happened. 

Southeastern went on a 9-0 run to almost immediately tie the game. The Lions outscored Lamar 26-11 in the third, taking a 53-47 advantage over the Cardinals into the fourth-and-final period. 

“That third quarter really hurt us,” Franklin said. “You have to respond when the other team makes a run.”

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The game went back and forth in the early minutes of the final quarter. Portia Adams, who led Lamar with 20 points on the night, scored on a driving layup to the rim that cut Southeastern Louisiana’s lead to 59-57 with 3:55 left to play.

However, that basket would represent Lamar’s last points of the game. Southeastern Louisiana’s Southland tournament title is the first in school history.

“We didn’t close out the the game like we should have,” forward Akasha Davis said. 

The Cardinals won 10 out of their last 12 games and finished with an overall record of 20-12. Lamar, the No. 3 seed in the Southland tournament, beat McNeese and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi to advance into the conference championship game.

Only two seniors — guards Malay McQueen and Brooklyn Mitchell, will graduate from a Lamar team that made the Southland championship game for the first time since 2010.

“This was our first time on the big stage, and we’re going to work hard to be ready for the next time,” Franklin said. “Get on the bandwagon now, because we’re going to do some big things.”

MFaye@BeaumontEnterprise.com

Twitter.com/mattGfaye