ABILENE – Juniors
Alexis Mason and
Sydney Shelstead each scored 20 points and senior Whitney (West) Swinford chipped in 17 as the Wildcats rolled to a convincing 79-60 win over UT San Antonio Saturday afternoon at Moody Coliseum, snapping a two-game series losing streak to the Roadrunners.
In a game that ACU (2-1) never trailed, the Wildcats finished their day shooting .459 (28-61) from the floor, .308 from 3-point range (8-26) and .833 (15-18) from the free-throw line.
ACU went into halftime ahead by 10 points at 38-28 but the Roadrunners cut that deficit down to six points in the early moments of the third quarter as an Alexus Dukes layup was followed by a pair of foul shots by Akunna Elonu that made it 43-37 in favor of the home team.
The Wildcats' defense then stepped up, forcing three consecutive turnovers that led to six-straight points from the free-throw line. Swinford stole the ball on two of those possessions, which helped ACU push its lead back out to 12 points with 5:14 to go. UTSA's Kasia Kiejdrowaska then hit a jumper in the paint, but Mason responded with one of her four treys to keep the lead well within double digit-range at 13 points.
UTSA (0-1) made one last charge in the quarter, taking off on a 9-0 run that made it a one-possession game at 54-51 with 1:06 remaining. But after Swinford missed a layup,
Suzzy Dimba forced a turnover on Dukes and then Mason dished the ball underneath to Shelstead who was fouled under the basket by Tesha Smith.
ACU used that 3-point play from Shelstead to take a six-point lead into the fourth quarter, where the Wildcats outscored UTSA the rest of the way, 22-9. Swinford and Mason were a combined 5-of-7 in the fourth quarter and helped ice the game by each knocking down a 3-pointer. Shelstead, meanwhile, pulled down four of her eight rebounds, and off the bench ACU got six fourth-quarter points from freshmen
Sara Williamson and
Breklyn Wentz.
The Wildcats scored the first seven points of the game with buckets coming from
Lizzy Dimba, West and Mason, but the Roadrunners came all the way back to tie the score at 16-16 on a Kiejdrowaska 3-pointer after trailing by as many as eight points at the first media timeout. Shelstead then hit two free throws to give ACU an 18-16 lead going into quarter No. 2.
Shelstead made 8-of-9 free throws, while Wentz,
Suzzy Dimba and Mason were all 2-for-2.
UTSA got to within one point of the lead at 21-20 with 7:08 left in the second quarter only to see Swinford bury a 3-pointer followed by an 'and 1' from
Lizzy Dimba. The Roadrunners continued to hang around for much of the first half, but Mason provided some cushion with a trey at the 1:56 mark and
Suzzy Dimba tossed in a layup for the final scoring play of the first half.
Suzzy scored only that one field goal but pulled down six rebounds, blocked two shots and had a pair of steals. Sister, Lizzy, finished a rebound shy of her first double-double of the year and had a team-high five assists.
Niaga Mitchell-Cole led all UTSA scorers with 23 points and was 8-of-14 from the field with three 3-pointers.
The Wildcats' three-game homestand continues Monday at 7 p.m. vs. Southwest, which will be the 600th game of
Julie Goodenough's head coaching career.
