ABILENE – The ACU Wildcats are in a desperate race to grab one of the eight spots available for the Lone Star Conference Post-Season Tournament, and on Saturday they played like a team desperate for a win as they knocked off Texas Woman's, 69-57, at Moody Coliseum.
The Wildcats outscored the defending league champions 21-9 over the final 7:48 to take the 12-point win.
The win pushes the Wildcats to 8-10 overall and 3-9 in the LSC, while the Pioneers fall to 10-8 and 5-7. ACU will be back in action Tuesday at 5:30 p.m. when it hosts Midwestern State at Moody Coliseum. The Mustangs are playing Saturday night at Tarleton State for a share of the conference lead.
ACU entered the game in ninth place in the 10-team league, but could move up as high as seventh place depending on the outcome of Saturday's other games.
The Wildcats led throughout much of Saturday's contest and grabbed a 48-43 lead midway through the second half before the Pioneers rallied to tie the game at 48-48 with a 5-0 run capped by a Jessica Hanna jumper with 8:32 to play.
But that jumper touched off a Wildcat surge that pushed ACU into the lead and toward a big conference win.
Kelsey Smith – who was a beast in the second half with 19 of her game-high 21 points – hit a jumper at the 7:48 mark to give ACU a 50-48 lead and the Wildcats never looked back.
Smith, in fact, hit another jumper and two free throws before a three-point play by Mack Lankford and a layup by
Hillari Adam finished off an 11-0 run at the 5:16 mark.
The Pioneers didn't get closer than eight points the rest of the way as ACU improved to 39-12 all-time against Texas Woman's.
Smith had 21 points and 14 rebounds for her third double-double of the season and ninth of her ACU career. Lankford finished the night with 16 points, four assists, one blocks and three steals in 37 minutes of action.
