ABILENE -- Playing in a game they absolutely had to win in order to keep their hopes for a spot in the post-season alive, the ACU Wildcats put together a solid 40 minutes to knock off Eastern New Mexico, 75-59, at Moody Coliseum.
The win pushes the Wildcats to 16-10 overall and 6-5 in the Lone Star Conference South Division, while the Zias fall to 7-19 and 2-9. The Wildcats will close out the regular season Saturday in Canyon when they take on West Texas A&M at 4 p.m.
The Wildcats are now one-half game ahead of Angelo State (5-5 in the LSC South) for the fourth and final spot from the LSC South in next week's LSC Post-Season Tournament in Bartlesville, Okla. ACU can clinch fourth place in the division Wednesday if the Rambelles lose at Midwestern State.
If Angelo State wins Wednesday night, the Wildcats must either beat West Texas A&M on Saturday or hope the Rambelles lose at home Saturday night against a Tarleton State team that beat them 61-35 earlier this season in Stephenville. That scenario would leave both ACU and Angelo State at 6-6 in the division with the Wildcats earning the No. 4 seed from the LSC South.
ACU and Angelo State split two games this season, but ACU holds the tiebreaker edge over the Rambelles because of its win earlier this season over West Texas A&M.
Tuesday night's game at Moody Coliseum was never in doubt as the Wildcats -- behind the career night of senior forward
Courtney Laing on Senior Night -- jumped out to a 12-0 lead and never looked back. Laing scored six points in the game-opening and the Wildcats -- the worst 3-point shooting team in the league -- buried a 3-pointer to start the game (
Jamie Meyer) and to end it (
Kat Kundmueller with 16:29 left in the half).
The Zias would never get to within 10 points the rest of the way as the Wildcats stretched their winning streak over the Zias to 17 straight games. ACU hasn't lost to Eastern New Mexico since February 2001.
The Wildcats' lead grew to as many as 29 points in the second half as they left no doubt about the outcome.
Laing had a career-best 20 points to go along with seven rebounds, while Meyer finished with 19 points and 10 rebounds.
Kelsey Darby-Holson had 11 points and
Cecilee Perez tied her career high with 11 points.
