Barrs sets Lamar steals record in win at HBU
Published 11:40 pm Thursday, December 28, 2017
Lamar sports information
HOUSTON – Chastadie Barrs became Lamar’s all-time leader in steals as the Cardinals opened Southland Conference play with a 79-51 victory over the host Houston Baptist Huskies at Sharp Gymnasium on Thursday night.
Barrs had 10 steals on the night, pushing her career total to 339, surpassing the previous mark of 333 held by Ramona Jones. Barrs, who has at least one steal in all 72 games in her career, moved to within 20 of the all-time Southland Conference record of 359 held by Nina Randle of Louisiana-Monroe. Barrs ended the night with a double-double, adding 17 points for the Cardinals (6-5 overall, 1-0 Southland), who won their first road game of the season.
Baileigh O’Dell came off the bench to lead LU in scoring with a season-high 24 points, one shy of her career high. Kiandra Bowers also had a double-double for the Cardinals, finishing with 13 points and 11 rebounds for her 27th career double-double. Bowers moved past JaMeisha Edwards for 12th place with 1,043 points. She moved past Brittney Williams for seventh place on the LU career rebounding chart with 725.
The Cardinals trailed 16-15 after one quarter, before outscoring the Huskies (4-7, 0-1) 23-8 in the second quarter to take a 38-24 lead into intermission. The Cardinal led by as many as 30 points in the second half as they improved to 11-2 all-time against HBU.
“Today, we had a chance to show our depth, and our second squad came out and really set the tempo for us,” LU coach Robin Harmony said. “We’re happy about that. If the starters aren’t playing well, the rest of the kids can come in and really get going. Baileigh had a solid game. She hit her shots, she penetrated. She really didn’t make many mistakes. That’s what you expect from a senior.”
The Cardinals outscored the Huskies 37-15 in points off the bench. In addition to the 24 points from O’Dell, LU got seven points from DeA’ngela Mathis, four points from Kiara Desamours and two points from Briana Laidler.
The Huskies had no answer for LU’s pressure defense, finishing with 40 turnovers. For the night, the Cardinals had a 42-12 advantage in points off turnovers.
Veronika Kirienko had a double-double for the Huskies, finishing with 12 points and 12 rebounds. Amanda Johnson had 12 points and nine rebounds for HBU.
The Cardinals departed Houston immediately after the game for Corpus Christi, where they will take on the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Islanders (7-5, 0-1) at 5 p.m.Saturday at the American Bank Center. That game is the opening contest of a hoops doubleheader, with the men’s game between LU and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi scheduled to start at 7:30 p.m. Both of Saturday’s games will air live on KLVI-AM 560, with Harold Mann providing the play-by-play.
The Islanders opened conference play with a 58-50 home loss to defending regular-season champion Central Arkansas on Thursday.
“Corpus is a good team, and they’re tough at home,” Harmony said. “We have to get there, regroup, have a good practice and come out and play well to beat them.”
LU’s next home game is 7 p.m. Jan. 3, when New Orleans comes to the Montagne Center for a Southland Conference clash. There will be free T-shirts courtesy of Coca-Cola while supplies last. In addition, fans will have the opportunity to win LU merchandise as part of the New Year, New Gear! promotion. The LU freshmen will sign autographs for all fans after the game.
