Women's Basketball | 1/31/2015 7:18:00 PM
Box Score BEAUMONT – Two of the Southland Conference's top three scoring teams gave the fans at the Montagne Center exactly what they expected Saturday afternoon, but in the end it was the Lamar Lady Cardinals who had a little more offensive firepower than the ACU Wildcats.
Lamar reeled off a 20-2 run midway through the second half to take the lead and then withstood two ACU go-ahead 3-point attempts inside the game's final 20 seconds to take a 76-72 win over the Wildcats.
The loss snapped ACU's three-game winning streak and dropped the Wildcats to 11-9 overall and 3-6 in the Southland. First-place Lamar, meanwhile, is now 11-10 and 8-2. These same two teams will play again Thursday in Abilene at 7 p.m at Moody Coliseum.
ACU led 41-38 at the half thanks to seven first-half 3-pointers and was able to press the lead to 56-47 with 15:06 left in the game on back-to-back layups by
Suzzy Dimba, who had her fourth double-double in the Wildcats' last five games with 18 points and 11 rebounds. The Wildcats also had a pair of 3-pointers from
Alexis Mason and one from
Whitney West in the second-half-opening run that gave them their biggest lead of the game.
But as hot from the field as ACU was in the game's opening 25 minutes, the Wildcats went just as cold in the game's final 15 minutes. After going ahead by nine points with 15:06 left in the game, ACU would score just 16 points the rest of the way, hitting just 4 of 22 shots from the field, including 2 of 16 from 3-point range.
Prior to those droughts, ACU had scored 56 points and hit 20 of 42 field goal attempts, including 10 of 21 from 3-point range, in the game's opening 25 minutes. That drought allowed the Lady Cardinals to not only get back into the game, but off a 20-2 run that gave them a 67-58 lead with 8:26 to play.
Lamar guard JaMeisha Edwards sparked the run with nine points, while Dominique Edwards had five points, Baileigh O'Dell four and Lejha Smith two. ACU head coach
Julie Goodenough was also whistled for a technical foul during the run that gave O'Dell two free throws and pushed the Lamar lead to 63-58.
Despite the technical and an eight-point lead (72-64) with 4:51 to play after a JaMeisha Edwards 3-pointer, the Wildcats fought back, thanks to
Sydney Shelstead. The sophomore center went on a personal 8-0 run to get the game tied at 72-72 with 2:41 left in the game. She hit back-to-back layups to make it 72-68 with 4:02 to play, and then hit two free throws with 3:21 left and two more with 2:41 to play to tie the game at 72-72.
Whitney West had a 3-pointer lined up for the lead with 56 seconds left, but it rolled around the rim and out and Dominique Edwards grabbed the defensive rebound. After a foul was whistled on
Suzzy Dimba, O'Dell hit a pair of free throws with 34 seconds left in the game to give the Lady Cardinals a 74-72 lead.
West missed a 3-pointer with 18 seconds left, but ACU was given another chance to tie or take the lead when
Suzzy Dimba grabbed her 11th rebound and kicked it out to freshman Ellen Avery, who fired an off-target 3-pointer with five seconds to play. Dominique Edwards grabbed the rebound, was fouled, and went to the line where she knocked down the decisive free throws with three seconds left.
Shelstead led the Wildcats with 20 points, while
Suzzy Dimba had 18 points and 11 rebounds.
Lizzy Dimba also kicked in a game-high 14 rebounds to go with six points. Shelstead was 10 for 10 from the free throw line to tie the single-game NCAA and ACU record for best free throw percentage in a game (1.000 percent). The team was 12 for 12 from the line to tie the NCAA and ACU record for best free throw percentage in a game.
Remarkably, neither team missed a free throw as the Lady Cardinals combined to finish 15 for 15 from the line, led by Dominqute Edwards and O'Dell, who were each 4 for 4.
In the end, however, it was the game-turning run midway through the second half – combined with ACU's inability to hit shots in that stretch – that cost the Wildcats.
"I thought we rushed some shots during that spurt and helped open up the game a little bit for them," Goodenough said. "But I told the team this loss is on me. I lost my composure, got the technical and it cost us. But that's the type of game you would expect to see between two of the league's best offensive teams. I was really proud of my team for the way we fought. That was a hard-fought game between two good teams."
