Lady Buffs cruise to win over ACU
Turnovers, poor shooting by ACU leads to easy WTAM win
ABILENE -- In an almost carbon copy of last Saturday's 25-point ACU loss at West Texas A&M, the Wildcats on Saturday shot poorly and committed 33 turnovers in an 85-60 loss to the Lady Buffs in a Lone Star Conference South Division game at Moody Coliseum.
The loss drops the Wildcats to 15-7 overall and 6-3 in the division, while WTAM improves to 16-7 and 7-3. ACU is now in fourth place in the LSC South Division behind Angelo State (7-1), WTAM and Texas A&M-Commerce (7-3). ACU will return to action Tuesday in San Angelo when it takes on Angelo State at 7 p.m. in the first game of a key three-game road swing that will also take ACU to Texas Woman's (Thursday) and Texas A&M-Kingsville (Saturday).
In last Saturday's 80-55 loss in Canyon, the Wildcats shot 33.3 percent from the floor, committed 32 turnovers and saw the Lady Buffs score 32 points off those turnovers. In Saturday's 85-60 home loss, the Wildcats shot just 33.9 percent (20 of 59), committed 32 turnovers and saw the Lady Buffs score 37 points off turnovers.
The Lady Buffs took control early, scoring the game's first seven points and never trailing. ACU hurt itself in the first half by sooting a paltry 23 percent from the floor, hitting just 6 of 26 shots.
ACU pulled to within 63-49 7:39 to play, but Suni Jo Petty immediately drilled a 3-pointer and Stephanie Williams hit a pair of free throws to push the lead back to 19 at 68-49. The Wildcats would not challenge the rest of the way.
Senior forward Stephanie Riles led the Wildcats with 24 points and seven rebounds, while Jamie Boles had 17 points.
