NATCHITOCHES, La. - No lead is safe at Prather Coliseum and the Abilene Christian's women's basketball team was witness to that fact for the second time in two seasons as the defending Southland Conference champions from Northwestern State came back from a 15-point deficit to defeat the Wildcats, 61-56 before a small, but vocal smattering of Lady Demon fans.
NSU improved to 8-6 and 3-0 in the Southland Conference behind the victory, while the Wildcats - who have dropped three straight - fell to 7-5 overall and 0-2 vs. the league.
Last year the Wildcats were up seven at half and lost by four, but this one hurt much worse as the Lady Demons completely flipped their fortunes from the first half to the second.
NSU scored only 15 points in the first 20 minutes and was down by 13 at the break, but came out of halftime making eight of its first nine field goal attempts, which trimmed the Wildcats' lead to 44-37 at the first media timeout of the second half.
By the final media timeout, the ACU lead was down to four points at 53-49 and the Wildcats would hit just one more field goal afterward- a layup by
Sydney Shelstead from
Lizzy Dimba that made it 56-51 at 3:29.
From there the Lady Demons went on a game-ending 10-0 run that included seven free throws and a running floater by Janelle Perez in the lane that led to a three-point play and a 56-56 tie.
Alyssa Echols then turned the ball over on a travel with 40 seconds left, and on the ensuing possession, Tia Youngblood hit the game-winning layup on an assist from Chelsea Rogers. Arianne Ausmer hit two free throws in the closing seconds to seal the victory following a missed 3-pointer from
Suzzy Dimba.
NSU, which had started the game shooting 18 percent from the floor and 28 percent from the free throw line, made 14-of-22 (.636) shots in the second half, including three triples and was 15-of-17 from the foul line.
Perez led her side with 15 points followed by Youngblood wither 12 and Presley Owens with 11.
The Wildcats shot slightly better in the second half, but missed four important free throws down the stretch and finished 10 for 15 in the game.
Suzzy Dimba hit four treys to finish with a game-high 19 points, while her sister, Lizzy, and
Sydney Shelstead each had a double-double.
ACU started the game 0 for 10 from 3-point range, but quickly buried two coming out of the second media timeout off the fingertips of Echols and
Suzzy Dimba, which ignited a 16-0 run that lasted more than six minutes.
Shelstead banked in a layup to push the Wildcats' lead to seven points at 18-11 and then West scored the 700th point of her career with a trey at the 8:58 mark. The Wildcats took their largest lead of the half at 26-11 on a free throw by
Lizzy Dimba before the Lady Demons posted a mini 4-0 run to climb within 11 points.
Lizzy Dimba scored her fourth bucket of the half shortly after the final media timeout -- which would be the final points of the stanza for either team -- to make it a 28-15 game at halftime. NSU then had its final attempt (a 3-pointer by Beatrice Attura) blocked by
Suzzy Dimba.
The two teams combined for 16 of 68 (.235) shooting in the first half and the 15 points recorded by the Lady Demons were the fewest allowed by a Wildcat opponent since Southwestern Adventist scored 12 en route to an 108-21 defeat at Moody Coliseum in January 2013.
ACU held NSU to 6 of 32 shooting in the first half (1 of 11 from 3-point range) and was helped by five missed free throws. The Wildcats also dominated the boards 33-23 during the first 20 minutes.
The Wildcats return to action Sunday when they host Nicholls at 2 p.m. at Moody Coliseum.
