ABILENE - Abilene Christian women's basketball hit the century mark for the second time this season and 49th time in program history Monday night in a 100-52 triumph over the Eagles of Southwestern Christian University.
The victory lifted ACU's overall record to 6-2 and gave third-year head coach
Julie Goodenough her 45th win with the Wildcats, tying her with program founder Dr. Joyce Curtis. The Eagles, meanwhile, fell to 4-9 and have now lost five straight.
ACU never trailed in this contest as the Wildcats' starting five connected on nine of their first 15 shots in jumping out to a 19-4 lead by the under 16-minute media timeout.
The Wildcats soon pushed their lead out 20 points less than six minutes in the game on a 3-pointer by
Suzzy Dimba and grabbed their largest lead of the first half at the 10:15 mark when a jumper by
Alexis Mason made it 34-8 in favor of the home team.
An Adrianna White layup coming out of the last media timeout brought the Eagles within 19 points at 41-22 as part of a 7-0 run, but Mason countered with a triple and in the final minute hit a pair of free throws to put the Wildcats ahead by 26 points at halftime, 52-26.
The 52 points tied ACU's season high for most points scored in a first half (Nov. 17 vs. Howard Payne).
The Wildcats shot 52.5 percent in the first half and were nearly as good in the second half, connecting on 14 of 29 attempts (.483), including nine 3-pointers - four of which left the hand of sophomore
Ellyn Avery. The Lenorah, Texas native finished with a career high 12 points and her trey with 4:38 remaining gave the Wildcats their first 50-point cushion of the evening.
ACU shot .507 for the game (15-42 from 3-point range) and had five players finish in double figures for scoring, including starters West and Mason, who had 21 and 22 points, respectively.
Suzzy Dimba banked in four 3-pointers to finish with 17 points and tied
Sydney Shelstead and Mason for team lead with eight rebounds.
Shelstead had 11 points on 4-of-7 shooting and three free throws. West, additionally, dished out seven assists to tie her career high from last season's game vs. Arlington Baptist.
ACU provided 24 assists on their 35 field goals and easily won the rebounding war, 55-28 (19-8 on the offensive glass).
Eliora Johnson paced Southwestern Christian with 15 points off the bench in 21 minutes, however, White - the Eagles' leading scorer - was held to seven points on 2-of-7 shooting.
The Wildcats return to action Saturday at 1 p.m. vs. Air Force. Admission is free to all fans for this game courtesy of Abilene Teachers' Federal Credit Union.
