Lamar sports information

BEAUMONT — The Lamar Cardinals improved to 2-0 in Southland Conference action on Saturday afternoon with a 76-58 victory over Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. The win is the Cards’ 35th straight win at the Montagne Center.

For the Cards, it was head coach Robin Harmony’s 100th win at Lamar. She is only the third coach in program history to win 100-plus games at Lamar.

Moe Kinard led four players for the Cardinals in double-figures as she scored 25 points. Jadyn Pimentel followed with 19 points. Miya Crump and Chastadie Barrs followed with 18 points and 11 points respectively. Barrs led LU with nine assists and seven steals.

“We were worried about this game because A&M-Corpus Christi is a good team,” remarked head coach Robin Harmony. “Our kids came out and played for 40 minutes and we hung in there. We found a way to win and this is a big win for our team.”

In a back-and-forth battle early, neither team could take control of the game. Over the first 5 minutes of the game, there were three ties and four lead changes. Kinard put the Cards ahead 9-7 with 5:36 left in the first quarter. The lead grew to four, but the Islanders came back and tied the game at 11-11. A&M-Corpus Christi stretched its lead to three, 17-14, but the Cardinals scored the final four points of the quarter taking a 18-17 lead.

Lamar came out and stretched its lead to 12 points early in the second quarter after a Barrs steal, which is her 104th straight game with a steal, and went for a layup, putting the Cards ahead 33-21. Lamar grew the lead to as many as 14 in the half and led the rest of the quarter by double-figures. LU took 39-26 lead into halftime. LU limited the Islanders to nine points in the second quarter.

Over the first four minutes of the third quarter, hit two three-pointers and hit a layup taking a 47-32 lead over the Islanders. During the stretch, Crump scored five points. Lamar continued to add to its lead as they stretched it to 19, 55-36, after a Pimentel three. After stretching the lead to 21 points, following a Kinard three, the Islanders went on a 9-2 run cutting the Cardinals lead down to 14 points, 60-46 after three quarters of play.

Kinard and Crump stretched the LU lead to 19 points opening the fourth quarter as they teamed up to score the first seven points of the quarter. The lead stretched to 20, 70-50, after a steal and layup by Crump midway through the quarter. After a Barrs free throw, LU’s lead grew to a game-high 24 points, 74-50. Lamar came away with a 76-58 win, the 35th straight win at the Montagne Center.

The Cardinals return to action on Wednesday when they travel to New Orleans to face the University of New Orleans. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m. from Lakefront Arena.