ABILENE –
Cecilee Perez hit a free throw with two seconds left to cap a huge second-half comeback for ACU as the Wildcats pulled out a 67-66 win over rival West Texas A&M in Lone Star Conference South Division women's basketball action at Moody Coliseum.
The win was the fourth straight ACU win over West Texas A&M in Abilene dating back to the 2007-08 season and the Wildcats' fifth win in their last nine tries overall against the Lady Buffs.
The victory snapped ACU's two-game LSC South Division losing streak and pushes it to 8-13 overall and 5-4 in the LSC South and 1.5 games ahead of fifth-place Incarnate Word with five games left in the regular season. ACU is in fourth place in the LSC South, one game behind Angelo State and West Texas A&M, which are tied for second in the division at 6-3.
ACU will be back in action Saturday at 1 p.m. when the Wildcats take on last-place Texas A&M-Kingsville (3-18 and 1-8) at the Steinke P.E. Center in Kingsville.
The Wildcats trailed the Lady Buffs by as many as 12 points in the second half and were down by 11 points (61-50) with 6:23 to play after a 3-pointer by Lacee Logan. But from that point on, the Wildcats – who never led until two seconds were left in the game – outscored the Lady Buffs 17-5 to overcome the deficit and pull out the victory.
Perez and
Sarah Reno got the rally started with back-to-back layups before freshman Mack Lankford converted an old-fashioned three-point play with a layup and free throw at the 4:17 mark to cut the deficit to 61-57.
After another 3-pointer by Logan pushed the Lady Buffs' lead back to seven points (64-57), Lankford answered with a 3-pointer of her own to make it 64-60 with 3:45 to play.
Both teams went cold from the floor for the next two minutes before Ariel Robertson hit a jumper in the paint to put the Lady Buffs up 66-61 with 1:26 to play.
But
Renata Marquez answered with a bucket at the 1:18 mark to make it 66-63 before Lankford again converted on an old-fashioned three-point play with 44 seconds to play to knot the game at 66-66.
After Robertson missed a jumper with 26 seconds left, ACU got the ball on a defensive team rebound. Marquez then missed a jumper with seven seconds left, but Perez was fouled by Robertson with two seconds to play.
She hit the first of two free throws to give ACU a 67-66 lead, but after missing the second free throw the ball went out of bounds off WT to give ACU the ball with one second left. The Wildcats were able to inbound the basketball and run the clock out on their biggest win of the season.
The Wildcats blistered the nets, shooting 50 percent from the floor (25 of 50) and turning the ball over only 17 times after turning it over 30 times Monday in a home loss to Angelo State. Lankford led the Wildcats with 17 points, while
Autumn Whitaker had 13 points and
Kelsey Smith 10 for ACU.
