BEAUMONT — Chastadie Barrs didn’t enter Lamar planning to set a national record.

She didn’t go in planning to make a steal and an assist in every single game she’s played.

Those things just happened.

“It wasn’t necessarily in my mind,” she said. “I was just coming down here to play and help my team try to be successful individually as well as a unit. I tried to incorporate as much of my game into their system. I guess that kind of helped.”

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As her collegiate career winds down — Lamar has a regular-season finale at home against McNeese State on Saturday and a date in the Southland Conference tournament in Katy waiting — the 5-foot-7 point guard from St. Louis has boosted her game to potential WNBA draft status. Her resume includes an active NCAA Division I record of 633 steals and shared single-season records of 191 and 6.4 per game (from 2017-18). She and Ticha Penicheiro are the only two Division I players with 1,000 points, 500 rebounds, 500 assists and 500 steals for a career.

Natalie White, a Florida A&M standout from 1991-95 who held the previous career steals record of 624, set the single-season marks as a senior.

“She has quick hands. She has good anticipation,” Lamar associate head coach Randy Schneider said. “She’s fast. I don’t know that anybody can really take any credit for that but maybe God. And she goes hard.”

Barrs set the new career record on Feb. 27 at Houston Baptist with eight steals in the first half alone. She finished with 10 and was one assist away from a triple-double with 15 assists in a 97-49 victory.

“The day of the game, I wanted to break it at home. My coach, coach [Robin] Harmony, said, ‘No, no, get it as soon as you can.’ I didn’t go into Houston Baptist thinking I was going to get eight steals in the first half, but I did. It was a huge night.

“I would have rather gotten it in front of our fans. I couldn’t delay it or anything. I just had to go out there and play hard defense.”

Cardinal fans watching the Lamar-Houston Baptist men’s game in Beaumont that night received news of Barrs’ record and gave a standing applause in her absence, nonetheless.

Harmony was glad Barrs broke the career record during the regular season rather than in the Southland tournament, where Nicholls State upset the Cardinals in the semifinal round last year. Barrs finished that season tying White’s 1994-95 marks for the most single-season steals and steal average in the NCAA (191 for a 6.4 average through 30 games each).

“The opponents know what’s going on, too, so they make it even harder for her to get the steals,” Harmony said. “That’s why it’s good to be done.”

Barrs’ defensive exploits have been highlighted in a 1-minute Lamar athletic department-produced video and earned her an interview with WomensHoopsWorld.com. While she’s enjoyed those perks, she has at least a couple more goals to achieve, like a second straight Southland regular-season outright championship (Lamar has earned at least a share) and an elusive Southland tournament title, which would mean an automatic NCAA tournament berth. (The Cardinals last went in 2010.)

Schneider, who has mentored four WNBA draftees in his career including LSU great Sylvia Fowles, said Barrs is “in that realm” of players with such potential.

“She’s definitely the best defensive player I ever coached,” he said. “She’s special. She’s a stat-sheet stuffer. She’s probably the most well-rounded kid I’ve coached because she fills the stat sheet. She’s getting there. She’s going to be there with those kids I’ve been lucky enough to coach that have made the big league.”

Of Schneider’s WNBA products — Erica Wheeler, Erica White and Erlana Larkins are the others — Barrs has made the biggest jump, he said.

Harmony gladly takes Barrs’ 14.8-point scoring average and 40.8 percent field goal shooting this season, both career highs. Barrs scored less than 10 points per game only in her sophomore season.

“One of the main reasons she didn’t get recruited higher is because they were worried about her offensive skills,” Harmony said. “Coach Schneider worked with her relentlessly for the first two years and got her better. The shot’s not pretty, but it goes in, and that’s all that matters.

“Really, what happened is that she came to us as an athlete, and then we turned her into a basketball player.”

Barrs also cited a broken thumb from a car accident her junior year in high school that caused bigger-name programs to stop recruiting her.

“Lamar was loyal to me throughout the whole process,” Barrs said. “They were still a D-I school, so I decided to go where my loyalty and my heart were. They brought me in here like a family, so I came here to see how things would go, and I’m really glad I decided to stay.”

Now, the Cards have a national record-holder, and Barrs boasts plenty for which to be proud.

“I guess, just how Lamar got its name out there, like national recognition we got the school,” she said. “We are a D-I school. So, now a lot of people look at us. … I guess the fact I made a name for myself as well being here because I was counted out, and I had bigger schools looking at me, but I came here to Lamar and made a name for the school as well as myself.”

The idea of making one swipe and one dish in every game is only simple in mathematical terms. Barrs has played in 119 Lamar games.

The will to stuff the stat sheets isn’t that simple.

“I’m a point guard, so the assists come. Of course, that’s something you have to have when you’re a point guard. I like defense, so those steals came as they were.”

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I.C. Murrell: 721-2435. Twitter: @ICMurrellPANews