Wildcats hang on to defeat Mavericks, 79-72, for season's first win over D-I school

Wednesday, November 27

Arlington, Texas

7:30 p.m.

Abilene Christian

5-2, 0-0

UT Arlington

0-7, 0-0

Abilene Christian

UTA

Photo by: Jeremy Enlow

Wildcats hang on to defeat Mavericks, 79-72, for season's first win over D-I school

11/27/2013 10:52:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

ARLINGTON, Texas - Renata Marquez and Sydney Shelstead hit two big layups during the final minute to lead Abilene Christian in its hard-fought 79-72 victory over Texas-Arlington Wednesday night at the College Park Center.

Marquez also recorded three defensive rebounds during the final 20 seconds in earning her third double-double of the season. She scored 26 points on 10-of-14 shooting and hit two big free throws down the stretch on a night when ACU shot just 50 percent from the line (14-28).

But from the field, the Wildcats (5-2) shot a respectable 47.5 percent (29-61) in capturing their first win over a D-I program this season after losing twice last weekend at North Texas. It also was the Wildcats' first win over a D-I program since 1993 when they defeated Idaho State, 75-74.

The Mavericks, meanwhile, remain winless at 0-7 despite receiving an incredible individual performance of 32 points and 15 rebounds from Briana Walker.

ACU led by as many as 11 points in the first half and as many as nine points in the second, but the Mavericks kept hanging around and finally grabbed their first and only lead of the night at 51-50 (15:51 / 2nd half) on another Walker layup. Walker single-handily carried her team throughout the first half, but the Wildcats slowed her down over the final 18 minutes as she only hit one second-half field goal before fouling out of the game with 2:33 remaining.

With the Mavericks' top player out of the way, ACU slowly began to pull away starting with Marquez' third and fourth free throws that pushed the Wildcats' lead out to 73-68. UTA then cut the lead back to three with a pair of free throws by Laila Suleiman, but on its follow-up possession with 1:08 remaining both Desherra Nwanguma and Suleiman missed shots from under the basket and Alexis Mason held on to earn a huge jump-ball rebound.

That effort led to a layup by Marquez, which was immediately countered by a basket from Tahlia Pope that kept ACU's lead at three points, 75-72, and 42 seconds to go.

UTA called a timeout following Pope's layup, but its defense was left exposed in the paint as Shelstead sank an easy layup with 25 seconds left to finish with nine points.

Pope missed both of her free throws over the final 20 seconds, while ACU sophomores Cemetra Jenkins and Whitney West each hit one to seal the victory. UTA was sent to the line 41 times and made 25 freebies (.610).

"I'm super proud of our players because they played hard throughout," said ACU head coach Julie Goodenough during her postgame radio comments. "They all stayed focused even though several of them were in foul trouble and had a hard time early on in getting to rebounds."

In addition to UTA's Walker and Suleiman, tonight's officiating crew also called five fouls on Lizzy and Suzzy Dimba. Four fouls were each charged to Nwanguma, Marquez and Shelstead.

In terms of rebounding, ACU went from a -14 rebounding margin in the first half (27-13) to -8 for the game (46-38). Marquez had nine of her 12 rebounds during the second half, while Mason came away with three.

"I was very impressed by Renata's leadership tonight," said Goodenough. "She was vocal all day today and has really grabbed the reins of this team. She came through for us in so many different ways tonight even though she had to play out of position because of all the fouls being called."

ACU jumped out to a 9-0 lead to start the game led by West's seven points within the first three minutes, but the Mavericks were quick to rally as Walker was virtually unstoppable from all points on the court.

Walker scored her first bucket at the 16:26 mark, and by the third media timeout had 15 of her team's 17 points when the Wildcats had their largest lead of the game at 11 points, 28-17.

UTA continued to cut into the Wildcats' lead coming out of that timeout - largely as a result of Walker's presence - but also because of a rebounding margin that resulted in a 12 second-chance points. Walker pulled down a dozen boards in the first half to finish with a double-double (27 points).

During the closing minutes of the half, UTA got within a point at 37-36 at 1:49 on Walker's ninth field goal but West countered with a trey and then Mason buried another with 22 seconds remaining that pushed ACU's lead back to five points, 43-38.

On the Mavs' final possession before halftime, Te'o pulled down her team's 12th offensive board and put back a jumper as time expired to make it 43-40.

ACU outshot UTA in the first half .500 (16-32) to .464 (13-28) and was helped along by six 3-pointers compared to one for the Mavericks. Both teams, however, were hurt by their performances at the free-throw line. UTA missed nine of its first 22 attempts (.591), while the Wildcats bricked seven of their first 12 (.417).

The Wildcats return to action Tuesday, Nov. 3 for the third-annual Christmas Slam doubleheader. ACU will take to the court at Moody Coliseum at 5:30 p.m. vs. former Lone Star Conference rival Texas A&M-Commerce.