Blau leads ACU past Midwestern State
Senior center records near-triple-double in Wildcats' 87-73 win
ABILENE -- Lynsie Blau led a balanced Wildcat attack Thursday night as ACU built a big lead and then held off a second-half charge by Midwestern State to beat the Lady Indians, 87-73, in a Lone Star Conference South Division game at Moody Coliseum.
Blau scored 14 points, pulled down 13 rebounds, blocked eight shots, dished out three assists and recorded two steals in ACU's first LSC South Division win of the season. Blau almost recorded the first triple-double by an ACU women's player since Jennifer Clarkson in 1996.
Her effort was enough, though, to help ACU improve to 9-6 overall and 1-1 in the LSC South Division with its third straight win. Midwestern State, the LSC South Division pre-season favorite, fell to 12-3 and 1-1.
Six Wildcats scored in double figures, led by sophomore guard Ashley King, who scored 19 points and was 3 of 5 from 3-point range. Melanie Carter had 18 points and seven rebounds, while Kristal Robeson had 13, Stephanie Riles 11 points and five rebounds and Kierstan Barbee 10 points.
ACU blew out to a 47-32 halftime lead, thanks to 58 percent shooting in the first half (18 for 31).
But the Lady Indians opened the second half on a 12-2 run in the first 3:52 that cut the lead to just 48-44. Jel-Ani Armstrong led the rally with six points in the first 3:52 of the half as the Lady Indians pulled back into the game.
ACU, though, never let its lead dip below four points, eventually pushing the advantage back to 11 points (61-50) with 11:55 left on a Riles jumper. After Midwestern State pulled back to within nine at 61-52, Burks was ejected with 10:37 left in the game when he and referee Joe Rodriguez got into a heated argument over what Burks felt was a foul on his star, Meosha Walker.
That technical touched off another big ACU run that pushed its lead to 17 (73-56) with 6:50 to play. No Wildcat player had more than two points in the 10-2 run as the Wildcats were able to seal the win with that run. Midwestern State made a couple of late pushes, but it would never creep closer than eight points.
The Wildcats will return to action Saturday at 2 p.m. when they host Texas Woman's in another LSC South Division game at Moody Coliseum.
