Wildcats hang on for 66-64 win
Guiton's layup propels ACU to win over Lady Bronchos
ABILENE -- Alex Guiton hit a driving layup with less than 10 seconds to play Thursday night and then the ACU defense didn't allow a shot before the final buzzer sounded as the Wildcats took a 66-64 win over Central Oklahoma in a Lone Star Conference crossover game at Moody Coliseum.
The win pushes the Wildcats to 3-3 on the season, while the Lady Bronchos fell to 2-5 with the loss. ACU will be back in action Saturday at 2 p.m. when it hosts Northeastern State in another crossover game at Moody Coliseum.
UCO's Meghan Craig -- the pre-season pick as the MVP in the LSC North Division -- buried a 3-pointer with 1:22 to play to give the Lady Bronchos a 64-62 lead. However, that would be the final basket of the game as Guiton took over the game's final 80 seconds.
She tied the game at 64-64 with 1:08 to play with a layup, and then ACU's Ashley King grabbed a key rebound with 35 seconds to play after UCO had missed a pair of shots on the possession, including a 3-point attempt by Lindsey Wilson. ACU called timeout with 30 seconds to play, and Guiton -- with the ball in her hands at the top of the key -- found an opening and knifed to the basket to score uncontested on a layup to give ACU a 66-64 lead with 10 seconds to play.
UCO immediately called timeout, but ACU's defense didn't allow the Lady Bronchos to even get a shot off before the final buzzer sounded and the Wildcats took the victory.
The Lady Bronchos jumped out quickly, running out to a 22-10 lead, thanks in part to eight turnovers by the Wildcats. But ACU freshmen Audrey Maxwell and Kristee Davidson ignited the Wildcats midway through the first half as ACU outscored the Lady Bronchos 31-8 over the final 9:18 of the half to go into the halftime locker room with a 41-30 lead.
Maxwell had 10 of her game-high 15 points in the run, while Davidson had five points, two rebounds, three assists and one block in the ACU half-ending run.
UCO, though, opened the second half on a 6-0 run to cut the Wildcat lead to 41-36 at the 16:35 mark. After UCO cut the lead to 51-50, the Wildcats got three straight free throws from Maxwell (1 of 2) and Guiton (2 of 2) to push the lead back to 54-50 before the Lady Bronchos put together a 7-2 run to take a 57-56 lead with 7:38 to play in the game. Cassidy Pillow had four points in the run, and Mallory Markus had a 3-pointer for the Lady Bronchos.
The Lady Bronchos actually opened up a 61-58 lead with 5:03 to play, but ACU outscored them 8-3 down the stretch to pull out the victory.
Guiton finished with 14 points, while Jamie Boles-Lord narrowly missed a double-double with 10 points and nine rebounds. Lacey Blau had seven points and 11 rebounds for the Wildcats.
