PINEVILLE, La. – The Louisiana Christian University women's basketball team shot for a better percentage, hit more shots, and more field goals from deep, but were undone by a late cold spell in a 58-55 loss to the North American Stallions Friday night on the Gene Rushing Court at H.O. West Fieldhouse.
 
Louisiana Christian (2-17, 1-12 RRAC) started out fast. Leading 10-7 halfway through the first quarter, Desiree Allen found Kylei Leblanc under the rim for a lay-up to kick off a 7-0 Wildcat run which Amiyah Simpkins ended with a lay-up of her own, giving LCU a 17-7 lead with 2:30 left in the period. That was the only time either team led by double digits in the contest.
 
North American (10-6, 8-6 RRAC) took almost the remainder of the first half to pull that deficit down, eventually tying the score up at 24-24 with just over a minute before halftime. Both teams split a pair of free throws to cap the scoring and at the break the two sides were even at 25-25.
 
NAU led most of the way through the second half, holding the largest lead of the final 20 minutes by either team at six points. The first was with 2:30 left in the third quarter at 39-33, which the Wildcats quickly answered as Leblanc, Simpkins, and Maddison Carey all scored for a 6-0 run to tie things back up at 39-39 with a minute left in the period. The Stallions got a free throw to take a 40-39 lead into the final quarter.
 
LCU took the lead to start the fourth as Leblanc got to the rim again for another lay-up to put the Wildcats back in front. The Wildcats led by as much as five points as Leblanc scored on a jump shot to make the score 49-44 with 6:30 remaining.
 
But that's where the Wildcats went cold and NAU went on a 14-3 run to take its last six-point lead of the game at 58-52 as the clock ticked under a minute remaining. M'Kiyiah Olivier hit a three-pointer with just seconds left to cut that deficit in half, but LCU could not get the ball back before time expired to attempt to tie the score.
 
Simpkins led all LCU scorers with 13 points, hitting five of her 10 shot attempts, including one of three from three. She grabbed five rebounds, dished out a pair of assists, blocked a NAU shot, and came up with a steal.
 
Leblanc, coming off her NAIA Defensive Player of the Week award, filled up the box score once again. She scored 10 points on five-of-eight shooting and grabbed 15 rebounds for her 11^th double-double of the season. She stole the ball from the Stallions four times, blocked a trio of NAU shots, and dished out a pair of assists.
 
Carey ended the night with nine points, hitting a couple of three pointers in the process, gave out five assists, and grabbed three boards.
 
Kateria Gooden contributed seven points and five rebounds off the bench while Olivier added six points for the reserve unit.
 
Louisiana Christian out-shot North American, hitting 22 shots at a 37.9 percent clip while NAU connected on 19 shot attempts and hit at a 30.2 percent clip. The Wildcats were also better from deep, connecting on five three-point attempts at 31.3 percent while the Stallions hit four three-pointers in the game and hit on 23.5 percent of their long distance attempts.
 
Turnovers and fouls proved to be the difference as the Wildcats turned the ball over 28 times to 20 miscues for the Stallions. LCU was also whistled for five more personal fouls than NAU was, giving the Stallions a 16-6 advantage in made free throws as NAU took 26 free throw attempts while LCU took 10 shots from the charity stripe in the contest.
 
With the four-game home stand now complete, the Wildcats head out on the road for the next three, starting on Tuesday night as LCU heads down to New Orleans for the return contest against Xavier. Tip-off of Tuesday's contest against the Gold Nuggets (10-7, 7-5 RRAC) is set for 5:30 p.m. as Xavier's Convocation Center.