ABILENE – The Abilene Christian basketball teams will face Midwestern State as part of a Tuesday night Lone Star Conference doubleheader at Moody Coliseum starting at 5:30 p.m. Each game will be broadcast locally via KSLI 1280 AM and over the world wide web at YoeTV.org with
Grant Boone handling play-by-play duties for each outlet.
The Mustangs swept a twin bill from the Wildcats earlier this season on December 19 in Wichita Falls. Their men's team prevailed over ACU, 74-62, and their women's team came back from a two-point halftime deficit to beat the Wildcats, 64-57.
Both ACU squads were shorthanded that night as the men were without
Armani Williams and
Eric Kibi, and Mack Lankford was absent for the women's team. However, all three are back this time around and have been playing well as of late.
Kibi started both of last week's non-conference games vs. Paul Quinn College and Arlington Baptist and finished a half rebound short of a double-double average (15.0 points, 9.5 rebounds), while
Armani Williams contributed 10 points and six rebounds off the bench. The two victories lifted the Wildcats' record back to .500 at 10-10, but they still remain tied for eighth with Angelo State at 2-8 for the final spot at the conference championship.
Lankford tallied 16 points during ACU's win over Texas Woman's, which marked her fourth straight double-digit scoring total since fully coming back from injury. After scoring seven bench points in limited action at Commerce, Lankford hammered Tarleton for 31 points and then dropped a combined 51 points in back-to-back games vs. Angelo State.
Kelsey Smith also had a monster game last week vs. the Pioneers, which helped the Wildcats snap a three-game conference-losing streak. Smith scored 19 of her 21 points in the second half and pulled down 14 rebounds for her third double-double of the season and ninth of her ACU career.
The win over last season's conference champion improved ACU's overall record to 8-10 and conference mark to 3-9, keeping the Wildcats tied with A&M-Kingsville for ninth place and a half game behind Eastern New Mexico (6-13, 4-9).
By comparison, each of the Midwestern State teams are battling Tarleton State for the conference regular season title and right to enter the championships as the No. 1 seed. The men begin the week at 16-2 and are 9-2 vs. the LSC, 2.0 games behind the 11-0 Texans. The MSU women are 14-4 overall and 10-2 vs. the league with losses coming against the Rambelles and TexAnns.
The Mustang women are tops in the conference with a 73.2 scoring average and also possess one of the league's most aggressive defenses as evidenced by a 10.2 steals per game average and +5.3 turnover margin.
MSU is led on offense by Savannah Carver (15.3 ppg) and 3-point sharp shooter Dianna Jones, who leads the conference with a .444 shooting percentage. Cierra Thompson and Jazman Patterson are each averaging more than 6.0 rebounds per game.
The Mustang men are tops in the conference in seven categories all of which tout their uncompromising style of play, including offensive rebounds (15.3), assists (15.6), steals (10.6), turnover margin (+4.6) and assist/turnover ratio (+1.0).
Michael Loyd (13.0 ppg) is one of three Mustangs averaging more than 10 points per game, and David Terrell is their top rebounder with 6.5 boards per game.
The Wildcats also have to be wary of Anthony Harris, who has blocked 15 shots in addition to shooting close to 50 percent from the field (.486). Harris is second on the team with 11.9 points per game.
