Box Score
ABILENE - The Abilene Christian women's basketball team continued its assault on non-conference competition Thursday night as the Wildcats dominated both ends of the court in an 87-41 triumph over Angelo State at Moody Coliseum.
The victory lifted ACU's early-season record to 3-0 and all-time series lead over the 2-2 Rambelles to 52-35. The Wildcats have won the last three games over their most-common opponent and former rival in the Lone Star Conference.
ASU jumped out to a 5-0 lead on baskets by Kayla Turner and former Wildcat Hillari Adam, who banked in a three, but ACU quickly went on top less than two minutes later thanks to back-to-back treys from
Renata Marquez and
Whitney West.
The Wildcats held that lead until a three-point play by Tatiana Hayes tied the score at 13-13 with 16:20 left in the first half. But soon afterward Cemetera Jenkins kick-started a 7-0 ACU run with a her lone 3-pointer of the night.
ACU then pushed their lead into double digits with a 14-0 run in which the Rambelles went without a field goal for the better part of six minutes. Coming off the bench,
Suzzy Dimba scored five of her game-high 21 points during this stretch and then buried a three-pointer at the 4:09 mark after Adam had cut the Wildcat lead to 18 (36-18) with a trey of her own.
Dimba would hit two more layups during the final two minutes to finish the first half with 12 points on 5-of-6 shooting. And she did all of that in just 11 minutes.
As a team in the first half, ACU shot 55.6 percent from the field (20-36) and made 8-of-20 3-pointers. The Wildcats also got three 3-pointers from Marquez, who ended the night with 13 points, and a 5-of-5 performance from freshman
Sydney Shelstead.
Shelstead also led the team with nine rebounds, finishing one shy of her second straight double-double. She scored 12 points.
The Wildcats entered the break up by 27 points at 50-23 and it did not take long for them to push their lead out to 30 as
Alexis Mason began the half with a three-pointer followed by another trey from West and layup from Dimba.
Suzzy's twin,
Lizzy Dimba, would give the Wildcats their first 40-point lead after banking in a pair of free throws, and toward the end of the game
Jessica Elkins provided ACU with its biggest lead all game (48 points) with the team's 13th and final 3-pointer (41.9 | 13-31).
The Wildcats again shot well over 50 percent in the second half (56.0 | 14-25) to finish with a 55.7 shooting percentage, while the Rambelles made only 14 field goals overall. ASU also struggled mightily from the free-throw line in missing 10 of 21 attempts.
Defensively, ACU only pulled down five more boards than ASU, 34-29, but forced the Rambelles into 32 turnovers, which it converted into 40 points. The Wildcats also dominated ASU in the paint by 20 points, 36-16, and got 34 points from its bench - led by Dimba's 21.
The Wildcats return to action and wrap their season-opening four-game homestand Tuesday, Nov. 19 vs. Northwood at 7 p.m.
