Live Stats | Live Audio
ABILENE – Fresh off its dominating 111-73 win over Texas Lutheran Friday night, the Abilene Christian women's basketball team now has its attention focused on Wayland Baptist, which will be making its first Key City appearance since the 1998-99 season on Monday night.
Audio from the 7 p.m. game between the Wildcats and uniquely named Flying Queens will be streamed for free via
Stretch Internet's ACU Sports portal. Live stats also will be shown through
Stretch and
StatBroadcast.
Recognized as one of the best women's programs in all of Texas with an all-time record of 1508-520 (.743), Wayland Baptist once won 131 consecutive games from 1953-58. And since 1950 the school has seen its players earn approximately 170 all-America citations from a variety of groups, including the AAU and NAIA.
The Wildcats and Flying Queens were frequent opponents during the 1970's, 80's and early 90's, but have not met since ACU snapped a nine-game series losing streak with a 90-79 win in 1998-99. ACU's first (and only other) win over the Flying Queens was an 84-72 decision during the 1978-79 season.
This year's Wayland Baptist squad is off to a 2-1 start as it looks to qualify for its first NAIA tournament since 2008-09 under the direction of first-year head coach Alesha Robertson – a former all-Big 12 selection at Texas Tech. Robertson's Flying Queens started their year with two giant home wins over Huston-Tillotson (94-67) and Southwest (102-41) before dropping an 81-73 decision Saturday night at Incarnate Word.
Four Wayland players are currently averaging 10 or more points per game, including Iesha Greer, who is averaging a double-double of 11.3 points and rebounds per game. As a team, the Flying Queens are living up to their moniker with 89.7 points and 17.7 assists per game and field goal percentage of .415 (93-224). They're also out-rebounding their opponents by a margin of 60.3-40.7.
As for the Wildcats, a little more history went into the record books following their season-opening triumph over the Bulldogs as the Purple and White buried 17-of-46 (.370) three-pointers. The 17 treys tied the Wildcats' single-game record from last season's 108-21 win vs. Southwestern Adventist, while the 46 attempts were one more than thee previous record of 45 (also set vs. SWA). In fact, the 2012-13 Wildcats set a pair of team season records by making 236 treys on 712 attempts. The previous records of 199 and 549 were both set in 2003-04.
Senior forward
Renata Marquez made her first four long-range attempts in finishing 7-of-11 from the arc (8-14 overall) with a career high 30 points. She also pulled down 11 rebounds for her ninth career double-double.
Also reaching double figures during ACU's fourth-straight opening night win were sophomore
Whitney West, who tied her career high with 19 points, and freshmen
Alexis Mason (12),
Lizzy Dimba (12) and
Suzzy Dimba (11).
The Wildcats had 61 points at the break and added 50 more over the final 20 minutes to finish with the most points in the
Julie Goodenough-era. ACU's 111 points also set the record for most scored in a season-opener, eclipsing the old mark of 110 set by Wayne Williams' team in 1997 vs. Schreiner.
ACU has recorded 44 100-point games through its 43-year history. The single-game record for most points (147) came during a four-overtime win vs. Texas Woman's in 2008-09. The team's record for most points scored during regulation is 122 points, set against Howard Payne in 1995-96.
If the Wildcats score 100 or more vs. Wayland Baptist, it will be the first time they crossed the century mark in consecutive games since 2008-09. However, ACU has never scored 100 points in back-to-back games to start a season.
