Lavender wins debut
2/13/2003 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Wildcats win in Lavender's debut
ACU gets win No. 1 for interim head coach, 73-70
ABILENE -- ACU wasted little time putting a traumatic coaching change behind it Thursday night, pushing past Texas A&M-Kingsville for a 73-70 win at Moody Coliseum that puts the Wildcats right back into the chase for a post-season berth.
The Wildcats' win in Shawna Lavender's first game as the interim head coach not only evens their overall record at 12-12, but it also puts them into a fourth-place tie in the Lone Star Conference South Division standings at 3-6. The top four teams in each division at the end of the regular season will reach the LSC Post-Season Tournament, a berth that has eluded the Wildcats since the 1999-2000 season.
ACU put itself back in position to make a run at the tournament with an up-tempo, aggressive style under Lavender. The Wildcats, who entered the game averaging nearly 20 turnovers per game, turned the ball over just 10 times against the Lady Javelinas, forced 17 turnovers, picked up 12 steals and seven blocked shots.
"We simply had a total team effort tonight," said Lavender. "The girls made it a lot easier on us (assistant coach Jason Osuna). I wasn't really nervous because the girls had everything under control."
On Wednesday, ACU head coach Wayne Williams requested and was granted a leave of absence from the team to deal with ongoing health problems with his mother and brother in the Lubbock area.
After falling behind by as many as seven points in the first half, ACU pulled to within 38-36 at halftime. The Wildcats seemingly took control of the contest in the first four minutes of the second half, outscoring the Javelinas 12-3 through the first 4:02 of the second half to take a 48-41 lead.
But Kingsville rallied to tie the game at 50-50 with 13:10 left, and the game was on from there.
However, ACU junior center Lynsie Blau, junior guards Jenny Jackson and Leah Wilson and junior forward Melanie Carter would not let the Wildcats lose.
Blau played a monster game with 28 points, nine rebounds and five blocks, and Jackson, Wilson, Carter and Ashley King made key contributions down the stretch, both offensively and defensively.
ACU led 72-65 with 52 seconds left before the Lady Javelinas cut the lead to 72-68 with 42 seconds to play on a Sholanda Pipkin 3-pointer. The lead then shrunk to 72-70 after Arie Wilson canned two free throws with nine seconds to play. However, Blau hit the second of two free throws with four seconds to play to seal the 73-70 win.
"I told the girls after the game that a lot of teams could have folded after everything they went through Wednesday," said Lavender. "But they were solid, and I'm very proud of the way they played.
ACU hosts Texas A&M-Commerce Saturday at 2 p.m. in its next contest.
