ABILENE -- Breaking a losing streak is never easy, and that was the case for the ACU Wildcats on Saturday, who were trying to break a two-game Lone Star Conference South Division losing streak.
Facing a must-win situation after back-to-back road losses to Angelo State and Tarleton State, the ACU Wildcats did just enough to hold off a scrappy Midwestern State team, 73-66, in women's basketball action at Moody Coliseum.
The win stretches ACU's LSC South Division home winning streak to 16 games, but more importantly, it snaps a two-game skid that had seen the Wildcats fall from first place in the LSC South Division. ACU is now 13-7 overall and 3-2 in the LSC South, while the Mustangs fall to 6-12 and 0-5.
ACU will be back in action Tuesday at 6 p.m. when it hosts Texas A&M-Kingsville in another LSC South Division contest at Moody Coliseum.
The Wildcats trailed by as many as seven points in the first half before rallying to take a 32-31 halftime lead. ACU then scored the first six points of the second half to take its biggest lead of the game to that point at 38-31. The Wildcat lead eventually grew to as many as 11 points (48-37) with 14:12 to play on a 3-pointer by point guard
Kat Kundmueller.
Midwestern wouldn't die, however, as the Mustangs rallied to cut the lead to 52-49 with 10:06 to play on a three-point play by Jazman Patterson.
But the Wildcats responded with a 10-0 run that essentially sealed the victory for ACU.
Jamie Meyer -- who finished with a game-high 20 points -- led the run with six points.
Kelsey Darby-Holson and
Jody Meyer each contributed two points to the game-winning spurt.
Midwestern responded by cutting the ACU lead to four points (68-64) with 51 seconds left on aa layup by Alicia Houston, but
Sara Montgomery hit a layup with 31 seconds left to push the lead 70-64 before
Jamie Meyer hit a pair of free throws with 16 seconds left to seal it.
Jody Meyer finished with her 12th double-double of the season with 19 points and 12 rebounds, while
Courtney Laing and Darby-Holson each scored 10 points. Kundmueller filled up the stat sheet with seven points, six rebounds, nine assists, one block and one steal.
