ABILENE – The Abilene Christian women's basketball team returns home to Moody Coliseum this week for a pair of games vs. St. Edward's and Cameron. Games will tip off Tuesday and Saturday at 5:30 p.m.
The Wildcats (2-2, 0-1 LSC) have alternated wins and losses to start the year, and last week followed a 64-58 win vs. St. Mary's with a 74-68 defeat at defending Lone Star Conference champion Texas Woman's
The Pioneers buried 8-of-18 3-point shots and shot 46.6 percent from the field, while the Wildcats hit just 2-of-11 from long distance and shot just 40.3 percent from the field (25-of-62), including just 7 of 25 (28 percent) in the first half.
ACU trailed by as many as 14 points after the half, but were able to get the TWU lead down to one point on two occasions (59-58 and 65-64), the final time coming with 2:52 to play on a layup by
Cecilee Perez.
In the win against St. Mary's, three Wildcats – led by sophomore Mack Lankford's 17 points – scored in double figures thanks to a season high 37 trips to the foul line. From there, Lankford and
Kelsey Smith each scored seven points,
Hillari Adam made 5-of-6, while junior
Emily Miller was a perfect 4-for-4.
Lankford continues to lead the Wildcats in scoring with 22.3 points per game, followed by Smith (12.8) and
Renata Marquez (11.7). Smith also leads the club with five blocks and seven steals, and is second to Marquez in rebounding.
St. Edward's (3-5) enters the week as winners of two of its last four after beginning the year 1-3. After dropping three straight games to Lone Star Conference teams from A&M-Kingsville, Incarnate Word and Tarleton State, the Hilltoppers were able to salvage a 59-47 triumph vs. Angelo State.
SEU since then has lost by 14 to Arkansas Tech and 28 to Stephen F. Austin, with a convincing 75-49 victory vs. Huston-Tillotson sandwiched in between.
Boosted by a .391 (18-of-46) 3-point field goal percentage, Maddie Wheeler (11.6) is the lone Hilltopper currently averaging more than 10.0 points per game. Sarah Milewski, meanwhile, is leading SEU's rebounding efforts with 4.3 per game.
With a game slated Wednesday vs. Angelo State, Cameron (3-2, 1-1 LSC) will have three conference games under its belt prior to arriving Abilene for the ACU Christmas Slam. The Aggies' conference season began Nov. 30 with a 71-59 loss at Tarleton, and then they crushed A&M-Commerce, 68-52 on Dec. 3.
Cameron is shooting .415 as a team led by the duo of Julie Paunovic and Sabele Diata, who are ranked among the conference leaders in scoring and rebounding. Paunovic is averaging 15.4 points and 7.4 boards per game, while Diata is contributing 13.4 and 7.6, respectively.
The Aggies also have outrebounded their opponents by almost eight per game (42.0 - 34.8), while collecting nine more blocks and 20 more steals. Diata has more than half of Cameron's 21 blocks with 13.
ACU Christmas Slam festivities will begin just prior to the Wildcats' and Aggies' 5:30 p.m. start with campus clubs and organizations distributing free Christmas treats and drinks throughout the concourse. The club whose booth is judged to have the best design will win $100 from ACU Athletics.
Santa Claus and his elves will also be found on the concourse, and fans of all ages are encouraged to have their picture taken with jolly old St. Nick (Mark Lewis, Assistant Dean of Spiritual Life and Chapel Programs).
All fans in attendance will be eligible to win one of several gift cards, including one for $100 to United Supermarkets, $60 for Famous Dave's, and $40 for Buffalo Wild Wings.
Click
here for more information on the ACU Christmas Slam.
