ABILENE – The Abilene Christian women's basketball team can begin their climb back to the top of the Lone Star Conference standings with a pair of positive results this week vs. Texas A&M-Commerce and Tarleton State. Each game will be broadcast locally on AM 1280-KSLI and on the Internet via the ACU Sports page at
SkyboxLive.com.
The Wildcats (15-4, 10-3 LSC) had spent a majority of the season either tied for or in first place, but a stunning loss at Eastern New Mexico Saturday night knocked them down to third, snapping their season-high eight-game winning streak in the process. The Zias trailed by as many as 15 points midway through the second half until taking off on an 18-3 run that tied the game at 62-62. Eastern New Mexico hit 7-of-8 field-goal attempts during this stretch, while forcing the Wildcats into nine missed shots and five turnovers.
ACU made only four baskets over the final five minutes and simply did not have an answer for the 3-point shooting skills of Eastern's Jordyn Cooper and Hannah Altheide, who combined for nine treys on 10 attempts. Cooper's final bucket put the Zias up by five with less than two minutes remaining and then her teammates sealed the victory – their third of the year – by hitting their last six free throws.
The Wildcats of Saturday night were a far cry from the team their fans saw at Moody Coliseum earlier in the week, when they battled back from two nine-point deficits to capture a 69-60 victory over West Texas A&M. The Lady Buffs shot just 38.3 percent from the field in their second loss of the season to ACU on top of missing 15 of 20 3-point attempts and six of 15 free throws. The Wildcats also helped themselves by limiting turnovers and getting superior production from its bench, which contributed 32 points.
By comparison, the Wildcat reserves scored only four points in their loss to the Zias.
ACU has been largely dominant in its all-time series vs. Commerce, which it leads 51-10 following its Dec. 4 victory from earlier this season, 81-60. The Wildcats have won five straight over the Lions with its last loss coming in the first round of the 2009 LSC Tournament – the last year ACU went to NCAA Regionals. ACU's most recent lost to Commerce during the regular season occurred in early 2008.
Even though the previous two Wildcat victories over Commerce were blowouts, the Lions have played them tough at home the last couple of seasons. ACU escaped East Texas with a five-point win during the 2009-10 campaign and then had to go 34-of-41 from the free-throw line to emerge with a 12-point win last season.
The 2011-12 Lions were one of the worst teams in all of college basketball, finishing 2-24 overall and 1-19 vs. the Lone Star Conference. But this year, however, they are 7-10 and in the thick of the conference standings at 5-7 thanks to two wins over Texas Woman's, plus single victories vs. Incarnate Word, Kingsville and Eastern New Mexico. Commerce recently lost by 10 points at Tarleton State, which isn't too bad considering the Lions lost to the TexAnns by 28 points at home less than a week earlier.
Commerce is averaging 59.8 points on offense and is among the upper tier of conference teams when it comes to rebounding margin (+3.1). The Lions also force a lot of turnovers – ACU had 21 in their first meeting – and block over two shots per game.
Breanna Harris leads the Lions in scoring with 14.4 points per game even though she was held to seven by the Wildcats in coming off the bench. Harris also is her team's top rebounder with 10.0 per game and leads the conference with a 5.4 offensive rebound average.
The Wildcats will play host to its annual Pink Zone Game as well as its inaugural Cultural Crossover Night when it welcomes Tarleton State (14-4, 10-2 LSC) for the final time to Moody Coliseum Saturday at 5:30 p.m. The TexAnns lead their all-time series vs. ACU, 34-24, and begin the week a half game ahead of the Wildcats in the conference standings. Tarleton handed ACU its most lopsided defeat of the season, 78-60, at Wisdom Gym back in early December.
The Pink Zone Game is designed to raise support for breast cancer awareness efforts, and the women's basketball team will be giving away free t-shirts to its first 300 fans. ACU's Student-Athlete Advisory Committee also will be on hand to sell pink GameDay t-shirts for $3 each.
The Cultural Crossover event features several booths run by ACU's international-based student organizations, which will be stationed around the Moody Coliseum concourse complete with food, decorations and music.
Halftime acts for the Tarleton doubleheader include The Pips, Sanctify, and Shades. There will also be a performance by ACU's junior cheerleaders.
Tarleton enters this week on a three-game winning streak and will first face Angelo State at home on Wednesday before coming to Abilene. The TexAnns own the league's second-best scoring offense of 73.3 points per game and are led by Kiara Wright (17.7 ppg) and Peyton Adamson (15.1 ppg).
Wright also leads the LSC in rebounding (12.7) and field goal percentage (.624).
As a team, Tarleton is tops in the conference with an overall field goal percentage of .477 and 3-point field goal percentage of .338. The TexAnns made 50 percent of their 48 shots, including seven 3-pointers, in their win over the Wildcats.
