Abilene Christian
SMU
Wildcats to take on SMU
11/8/2009 6:23:01 PM | Women's Basketball
DALLAS – The ACU Wildcats will close out the exhibition season Monday night when they take on the SMU Mustangs in a women's basketball game at Moody Coliseum on the SMU campus.
Tipoff is set for 7 p.m.
The Wildcats – picked to finish third in the Lone Star Conference South Division – will be led by senior forward Jamie Meyer, who was tabbed as the LSC South Division Pre-Season Player of the Year. The Wildcats also return starters in point guard Kat Kundmueller, forward Jody Meyer and guard Kelsey Darby-Holson, as well as key reserves Autumn Whitaker and Joanna Harner. Senior Courtney Laing is expected to be the Wildcats' starter at center.
ACU finished 18-11 last season and reached the NCAA Division II South Central Region Tournament for the first time since the 2004-05 season.
SMU is coming off the school's first Conference USA championship and was selected to play in the Women's NIT. The Mustangs' season ended with a 77-54 loss to Louisiana Tech in the opening round.
The Mustangs are led by all-Conference USA forward Brittany Gilliam (14.7 points per game in 2008-09) and Delisha Wills (11.4 ppg).
ACU head coach Shawna Lavender was a four-year letterwinner for SMU, leading the Mustangs to a combined 78-40 record and two NCAA Division I Tournament appearances from 1992-97.
She scored a career-high 42 points in SMU's quadruple-overtime victory over TCU in 1997. Lavender missed the 1995-96 season with a knee injury, but came back to start all 30 games in 1996-97 and average 10.4 points per game and rank fifth in the Western Athletic Conference in assists. A two-time team captain, Lavender received a bachelor's degree in English from SMU in 1997.
After Monday night's exhibition game, the Wildcats will have one more week of work before the regular season begins on Monday, Nov. 16, when they host St. Mary's at 6 p.m. at Moody Coliseum in Abilene.
