PINEVILLE, La. – The Louisiana Christian University women's basketball team used a big third quarter to blow open the game against North American University and coasted to the Wildcats biggest margin of victory in a game since the 2018-19 season with an 85-53 win over the Stallions Tuesday night at H.O. West Fieldhouse.
 
North American's only lead in the game came in the opening moments off a pair of free throws which gave the Stallions a 2-0 lead. Kieyoomia Benally tied the game with a lay-up on the Wildcats' ensuing possession and LCU would not trail again in the contest. With just more than 6:30 left in the first quarter, Olivia Scott hit a jumper in the paint to put the Wildcats up 6-4, giving LCU the lead for good. LCU's lead hit eight points in the first period as a pair of Amiya Dartez free throws with 29 seconds left made the score 19-11. The Wildcats led 19-13 after the first quarter of play.
 
LCU looked to blow the game open to start the second quarter, going on an 11-0 run, starting with a lay-up by Paola Abad Prieto to start the period and was ended by Miya McKinney stealing the ball and going the distance for a lay-up and a 30-13 Wildcat lead just two minutes into the period. The Stallions cut the lead back down to ten points before the Wildcats used another run to get the lead back up to 16 points as Kayla Kinney's lay-up with 3:30 remaining made the score 38-22. Following a NAU three-pointer, Noa Fernandez Fuentes completed an old-fashioned three point-play to get the lead back up to 16 points at 41-25 with 2:34 left before halftime. NAU finished the second quarter on an 8-2 push to cut the Wildcat lead down to 43-33 at the break.
 
But the Wildcats came out of the break with a vigor to put the game out of reach, starting the third quarter with an 11-0 run to bust the game wide open. The run started with a lay-up by Miya McKinney and ended with a put back lay-up by Paula Ferrer Nolla with 6:30 remaining to put LCU up 54-33. NAU followed that up with back-to-back three-pointers to get the lead down to 15 points, but the Wildcats widened the lead again with a 14-0 run, bookended by a pair of Amiya Dartez threes that put the Wildcats up 68-39 with 2:15 left in the third quarter. LCU led 70-44 at the end of the third quarter.
 
With the game in hand, the Wildcats coasted through the fourth quarter, matching the Stallions bucket-for-bucket, until a lay-up with 40 seconds left by Jordan Barfield gave LCU its largest lead of the contest, which also happened to be the final bucket of the game, 85-53.
 
"It's always great to defend home court with a win," said LCU head women's basketball coach Matt LeBato. "I was proud of our enthusiasm and effort from everyone. NAU did a great job of being physical and applying pressure. We need to handle that better in the future. The willingness to set up a teammate was very apparent tonight with 23 assists. That's something we always talk about."
 
Amiya Dartez came off the bench to go four-of-seven from the field, all from above the three-point arc, and hit two free throws to finish with a game-high 14 points to go along with a pair of steals. Paula Abad Prieto was five-of-six from the field, including two-of-three from deep, to finish the game with 12 points. Noa Fernandez Fuentes rounded out the leading scorers with ten points while also grabbing five rebounds and had a pair of assists. Alayah Robertson was a force on the boards, grabbing 11 rebounds while also scoring six points. Trastasia Hester doled out a team-high five assists. The Wildcats hit on 49.2% of their shots as a team in the contest, including 39.1% from above the arc with nine makes from deep. LCU held North American to just 27% as a team overall and 25.8% from above the arc. 
 
The 32-point victory over the Stallions was the largest by LCU since a 102-38 win by the Wildcats over Wesleyan College on November 18, 2018.
 
The Wildcats (6-3) were notified that their next-scheduled contest, a December 17^th game at Southeastern Baptist, has been forfeited to LCU. The next time LCU takes the court will be Saturday, December 18^th, looking to complete the season home-and-home sweep of William Carey. Tip-off against the Crusaders (5-3) is set for 2:00 P.M., or about 20 minutes following the men's game, at Clinton Gymnasium in Hattiesburg, Miss. on the William Carey campus.