Abilene Christian's Lone Star Conference Starting 5 Fan Poll ... VOTE TODAY!
ABILENE – Winners of three-straight road games, the Abilene Christian women's basketball team returns home to Moody Coliseum this week for a pair of Lone Star Conference showdowns vs. Midwestern State and Cameron.
The Wildcats (7-2, 3-1 LSC) first play host to the Mustangs (7-2, 2-2 LSC) Thursday at 5:30 p.m. before welcoming the Aggies (2-8, 1-3 LSC) Saturday at 5:30 p.m. Both games will be broadcast locally on 1280-AM KSLI. ACU's last home game was a 21-point win over Texas A&M-Commerce on Dec. 4.
The Wildcats played well during their Winter Break, winning twice in Canyon at the Lady Buff Christmas Classic before defeating St. Edward's, 67-58. ACU buried all 15 of its free throw attempts vs. the Hilltoppers in addition to hitting 10 3-point field goals. The Wildcats were especially clutch at charity stripe as they went 10 for 10 during the final four minutes. Upperclassmen
Renata Marquez and
Mackenzie Lankford each scored 14 points, while freshman
Kynzie Newman had 10 points off the bench.
ACU's effort from beyond the arc vs. St. Edward's kept it atop the conference in scoring offense (74.7 ppg) and 3-point field goals made (76 overall/8.4 per game).
In Canyon, ACU recorded its second-consecutive undefeated Christmas Classic after beating Arkansas-Fort Smith, 70-66, and Emporia State, 74-67. The Wildcats have won five of their last six at the First United Bank Center, which includes a conference win vs. West Texas A&M in late November.
Led by Marquez' 13.5 points per game, the Wildcats averaged 72 a game at WT behind .348 shooting from the floor. ACU also received a huge boost off the bench from freshmen
Whitney West and Newman. West finished second on the team in scoring that week (11.5) after posting a career-best 14 points on 5 of 6 shooting vs. the Hornets. Newman, meanwhile, led all Wildcats with 13 rebounds.
The Wildcats' victory against Emporia State was their second in five meetings and first since a 74-64 decision during the 1987-88 season.
Midwestern State started its year 7-1 and attained a No. 25 ranking in the
USA Today Top 25 Poll only to lose back-to-back game vs. Central Oklahoma (72-53) and Eastern New Mexico (70-62). The Zias poured in a season-high 70 points while shooting 54 percent from the field to improve to 2-10 on the season.
The Mustangs led 34-32 at the half and later pushed its advantage to 50-45 with 11:09 to play, but then Eastern countered with a 21-10 run over the final six minutes to seal the victory. Junior guard Kirsti Degelia paced the Mustangs with 15 points and six rebounds, but the Mustangs struggled overall from both the floor (.350) and free-throw line (.591).
Degelia ranks third in the conference in scoring with 15.1 points per game, while Andrea Carter ranks 10th (12.7). Carter also ranks second in rebounding (10.9) and third in steals (2.4).
Cameron has lost its last two and will play host to Angelo State Tuesday night before visiting the Big Country. The Aggies are tied for last place in the conference with three other teams at 1-3 and own the LSC's second worst scoring offense with 52.3 points per game. However, they have the league's top rebounding defense with 33.9 boards per game and are second to ACU with 6.6 3-point field goals made.
Alexis Williams leads the Cameron offense with 10.2 points per game. Hannah Pollart is their top rebounder (7.7).
ACU head coach
Julie Goodenough (296-222) begins the week four wins away from No. 300. The earliest she could reach this milestone is on Jan. 12, 2013 at home vs. Southwest Adventist.
