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Interview with Coach Goodenough
GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. -- The ACU Wildcats return to NCAA post-season action tonight after a three-season absence, and they do so against an opponent that's become very familiar to them over the last nine seasons.
The Wildcats – 21-6 overall and the No. 5 seed in the NCAA Division II South Central Region Tournament – will take on Texas-Permian Basin (20-7 and the No. 4 seed) in the quarterfinals of the tournament at Brownson Arena on the campus of Colorado Mesa University. Tipoff for the game is scheduled for 8:30 p.m. (9:30 p.m. central time) and can be heard on skyboxlive.com/acu-sports. The game can be viewed at americaonesports.com/static/mesa.html.
Since the 2004-05 season, the Wildcats and Falcons have played nine times with ACU winning the first six games of the series. Permian Basin broke through with a 105-91 win over ACU on Nov. 16, 2010, and enters tonight's game having won three straight against the Wildcats.
The Falcons won the Heartland Conference regular-season championship, but lost to St. Mary's in the conference tournament championship game. The Wildcats, meanwhile, shared the LSC regular-season championship with Midwestern State, but were upset by Texas A&M-Commerce, 80-79, in the first round of the conference tournament.
UTPB all-region guard Teisha King is 11th in the country in scoring at 19.1 points per game, leading an offense that is ranked 47th in the nation in scoring at 70.0 ppg. Taniqua Ards is averaging 15.1 ppg and 6.4 rebounds per game, while center Briannah Matthews is averaging 8.4 ppg and 6.9 rpg.
The Falcons shoot just 43.1 percent from the floor, including just 32.8 percent from 3-point range, having made just 136 of 415 3-point field goal attempts. They also shoot just 66 percent from the free throw line. But they do out-rebound their opponents by almost seven rebounds per game (41.3-34.7), an area where the Wildcats have struggled of late. The Falcons, in fact, are 20th in the country in rebound margin at plus-6.6 per game.
The Wildcats are led by second team all-region guard
Mackenzie Lankford, who is averaging 14.3 ppg and has 48 steals on the season. Junior
Renata Marquez is averaging 13.1 ppg and 6.0 rpg, while
Kelsey Smith is averaging 11.2 ppg and 6.9 rpg and
Sadie Dickinson is averaging 10.5 ppg and 5.0 rpg.
ACU is 12th in the nation in scoring offense 75.1 ppg and seventh in the country in 3-point field goals per game at 8.4. The Wildcats hit just 1 of 10 3-point attempts in last week's loss to A&M-Commerce. ACU is No. 3 in the nation in 3-point field goal defense, allowing opponents to hit just 24.9 percent of their shots from beyond the arc.
The winner of Friday night's game will advance to the tournament semifinals at 7:30 p.m. (8:30 p.m. central time) Saturday against either No. 1 seed Colorado Mesa or No. 8 seed Fort Lewis.
