ABILENE – The ACU Wildcats' season-long chase for a spot in the Lone Star Conference Post-Season Tournament comes down to a simple scenario: win Saturday or go home.
The Wildcats picked up an easier-than-it-sounds 93-55 win over hapless Texas A&M-Commerce in their final home game of the season Wednesday, then turned to scoreboard watching to see how two teams just ahead of them – Eastern New Mexico and Texas A&M-Kingsville – were faring in their games.
ENMU pulled out a 72-64 overtime win over Cameron at home to stay alive in the race for a tournament spot, and Kingsville held on for a 63-58 win over Texas Woman's in the Lady Javelinas' regular-season finale.
So, going into Saturday's final day of the regular season, the LSC standings have Incarnate Word and ENMU tied for the seventh spot at 8-11 in league play, followed by Kingsville in ninth at 8-12 and ACU in 10th at 7-12.
ACU has to win at Tarleton State in Saturday's regular-season finale and hope ENMU loses at Midwestern State on Saturday to set up a three-way tie between the Wildcats, Zias and Lady Javelinas for eighth at 8-12 in the league. In that scenario, ACU would gain the tiebreaker edge because of a better record against the other two teams and earn the No. 8 seed in the post-season tournament.
The Wildcats (12-13 overall) will go into Saturday night's contest having lost six straight to the TexAnns, including three straight in Stephenville. ACU's last win over the TexAnns was a 77-71 win in Abilene on Jan. 28, 2009, and its last win over the TexAnns in Stephenville was a 66-63 win on Feb. 20, 2008.
If only Wednesday night's home finale had held as much excitement as did the tournament scenarios. That would have called for Commerce to put some resistance, which the Lions didn't offer.
ACU – which never trailed – jumped 16-5 lead in the first four minutes and never looked back as the Wildcats coasted to their easiest win of the season and their largest margin victory in a game since an 83-43 win over Texas-Permian Basin on Feb. 7, 2009.
Sophomore guard Mack Lankford – who on Monday was named the LSC Offensive Player of the Week – continued her stellar play by hitting 10 of 18 shots from the field and pouring in 23 points. She added six rebounds, five assists and seven steals in only 24 minutes of action.
Sophomore forward
Renata Marquez had one of her best games of the season with 21 points, six rebounds, one assist and three steals in just 19 minutes.
Darrein Williams poured in 15 points on 6 of 7 shooting in the final 11 minutes of the game.
