The University of the Incarnate Word women’s team kept its spot atop the Heartland Conference with a 66-55 victory over visiting St. Edward’s University.
Senior Nia Torru led all scorers with 25 points and 10 rebounds for a double-double while Cinnamon Kava added 17 points.
With UIW (18-6, 12-1) needing to stay in first place, head coach Angela Lawson was pleased to see how her post players responded to a tough game – not necessarily on the scoreboard, but with their effort.
“I have to compliment all of our post players,” Lawson said. “St. Edward’s has some guards who can shoot a really long 3-ball and we talked about hedging on ball screens and player screens, and those post players have to step up and get on those early. They did a really good job – they maybe didn’t score a lot of points for us, but we were okay as a team scoring inside.
“They didn’t let the fact that they weren’t getting a lot of shots off affect their defensive intensity on the other end and I thought that was huge for us.”
Hayley Harvey had six points and three rebounds while Nikki Brown and Brittney Bennett both grabbed four rebounds and scored six and four points, respectively, while Brown added a blocked shot and a steal.
Incarnate Word and St. Edward’s battled through four tie scores and three lead changes in the first half, but the Cardinals took a 14-12 lead with 10:12 to play in the first half and never surrendered it the rest of the way.
Now finished with the four-game home stand, UIW finally gets to focus on next Saturday’s showdown at St. Mary’s University which will have major implications in the battle for first place and the No. 1 seed in the Heartland Conference tournament.
St. Mary’s defeated UIW, 48-38, on January 16th at the McDermott Center and Lawson said her team is already focused on the Rattlers.
“We’re going to have to beat them on their home court if we want to win the regular season conference championship,” Lawson said. “Our players know that. St. Mary’s knows that. We go down there and lose to them, we’ll have the same record and end up tied (at the end of the regular season) and they’ll take first because of the head-to-head matchup. It’s coming down to the wire and it’s one of those things we’ve been preparing for all season.
“I know the girls are ready and they’re fired up. They’ve already been telling me what our practice plans are going to be for this week – so it’s a good thing that they’re looking forward to it and are wanting to practice and prepare.”