SAN ANGELO – The Angelo State women's basketball team surges into the Lone Star Conference Championships on a six-game winning streak following a 48-36 victory over Incarnate Word on Saturday in the regular season finale at Stephens Arena in the Junell Center.

The Belles (14-12, 11-9 LSC) enter the tournament as the sixth seed and will play No. 3 West Texas A&M (18-11, 14-6 LSC) at noon on Thursday in Allen. UIW (17-9, 13-7 LSC) is the fifth seed in the tournament and will play No. 4 Tarleton State at 6 p.m. on Thursday.

“It's great to be going into the tournament on a win and on the streak that we're on,” said Morgan Youngblood, following scoring six points and securing 10 rebounds against UIW during her Senior Night. “We struggled some tonight on our shooting but our defense pulled us through.”

Lauren Holt led Angelo State with 18 points and nine rebounds, while Leah LeMaire scored 10 points and also grabbed nine rebounds. Holt finishes the regular season at 12.9 points and 8.6 rebounds per game. Haylee Oliver added 10 rebounds five points, including hitting a 3-pointer with 13 seconds remaining in the first half to give ASU a 22-19 lead going into halftime.

Angelo State, which outscored UIW 30-18 in the paint, limited its turnovers to 10 in the game and outrebounded the Cardinals 48-36. ASU was limited to 30.8 percent shooting, but were stalwarts on defense by forcing 16 UIW turnovers and limiting the Cardinals to 25.5 percent shooting – including going 0 for 12 from beyond the 3-point line.

“We played great defense and we didn't turn the ball over very much,” ASU head coach Sally Brooks said. “We were expecting Incarnate Word to pressure us more than they did, but we did secure the ball well.”

The Belles never trailed in the second half and went on a 14-2 run from the 11:36 mark to the 3:10 point of the second half to cruise to a comfortable win.

“Our priority when our shots aren't falling is to attack the glass for rebounds and play great defense,” Youngblood said. “We are giving ourselves more opportunities by the way we're rebounding.”

ASU finishes the season with a 7-4 record at home and split its season series against UIW after Saturday's win and a 60-52 loss on Jan. 19 in San Antonio.

Rose Whitehead led Incarnate Word with 11 points and eight rebounds, while Katy Cooke added nine points and three steals. Ifunanya Mora and Michelle Hale joined Whitehead with eight rebounds.