Women's Basketball | 12/15/2015 10:57:00 AM
Game Notes
Live Stats vs. Eastern Washington | Live VideoLive Stats vs. Idaho | Live Video ABILENE – Abilene Christian women's basketball returns to competition for the first time in two weeks with games Friday and Sunday against Big Sky Conference schools Eastern Washington and Idaho. The Wildcats have been off since Dec. 6 due to final exams and have remained on campus during Christmas Break to both practice and participate in local community service projects at Disability Resources, Inc.
Both road games will offer live stats and be broadcast via the Big Sky Conference page at
Eversport.TV.
The Wildcats enter this week with an overall record of 6-2 following a stellar showing at the Air Force Classic, where they defeated WAC school Grand Canyon, 75-71, and MAC member Eastern Michigan, 83-59. Junior
Alexis Mason was voted MVP of the classic after scoring a single-game career high 29 points against the Eagles and made the all-tournament team alongside sophomore
Sierra Allen, who averaged 16.0 points per game off the bench.
Allen has scored 10-or-more points off the bench in four of her last five games starting with an 11-point performance on Nov. 23 vs. Southwest. She then made 4-of-5 baskets on Nov. 27 vs. Missouri Valley, and against GCU at the Air Force Classic the Roscoe, Texas, native hit 7-of-8 attempts, including a pair of 3-pointers to finish with a career high of 18 points.
Allen chipped in 10 points during ACU's blowout win over Eastern Michigan, giving ACU its second consecutive neutral-site tournament title in as many seasons. Last November the Wildcats won the UMKC Plaza Lights Classic following wins over George Mason and the host Roos. Mason also landed on that all-tournament team, while
Whitney West Swinford garnered MVP honors.
Swinford and Mason each were deadly from beyond the arc against Eastern Michigan, combining for 13 of ACU's season high 14 3-pointers. Mason connected on 7-of-16 long-distance attempts and Swinford buried six to finish with 20 points.
On defense the Wildcats limited the Eagles – who came into the AFA Classic shooting 40 percent and averaging 79.0 points per game – to .286 shooting (20-70) and scored 23 points off their 18 turnovers. Additionally, the Eagles' two-leading scorers combined for just seven field goals on 31 attempts (.226).
ACU is 3-2 all-time vs. current Big Sky schools, which includes last season's 79-72 home win over Eastern Washington. The Wildcats also are 1-0 against Idaho State and Portland State and 0-1 vs. North Dakota State and Northern Colorado; however, all of these games took place while ACU was a NCAA DII member of the Lone Star Conference.
The Wildcats defeated Eastern Washington in comeback fashion at Moody Coliseum for their first win over a Big Sky school in close to 20 years. EWU went ahead at 70-68 lead on a layup by Jade Redmon with 5:29 left in regulation but wouldn't score another point until Lexie Nelson hit two free throws with six seconds to play.
During this prolonged scoring drought,
Sydney Shelstead powered an 11-0 run with three points, four rebounds and an assist on Swinford's 3-pointer that gave ACU a 78-70 lead 1:35 to play.
EWU went into halftime ahead 45-41, but were outscored 38-27 and outrebounded 24-16 in the second half. They also coughed up the ball 10 times (17 overall) and only made eight trips to the free-throw line, while the Wildcats made 18-of-26 attempts.
The Eagles are off to a 5-4 start and will play tonight at Wichita State before returning home to host the Wildcats Friday at 8 p.m. (CT). Four of EWU's wins have been at home, where the Eagles have defeated Eastern Oregon, Air Force, Cal State Northridge and Utah Valley.
Eastern Washington was picked to finish sixth by the media and ninth by the league's coaches in the Big Sky Conference preseason polls despite receiving two first-place votes from the media.
The Eagles returns four letter winners and two starters from last year's team that tied a school record with 21 victories and won its first-ever postseason game, topping Washington State in the first round of the WNIT. Senior Hayley Hodgins (19.4 ppg) earned First Team All-Big Sky honor a season ago while her younger sister, sophomore Delaney Hodgins (14.7 ppg) was named the Big Sky Freshman of the Year last season.
ACU and the Idaho Vandals meet for the first time Sunday at 2 p.m. (CT). The Vandals started the year 7-1 against a top-flight schedule that featured convincing victories over UC Santa Barbara, Texas State and Iowa State in addition to a six-point loss to Duke.
The Vandals' showing at the Cancun Challenge in late November followed by a 2-0 homestand garnered them some votes in the USA Today Coaches' Poll, but they lost 78-62 at Texas Tech on Dec. 9 in Lubbock and were upended by No. 7 Oregon State 69-44 this past Saturday.
Idaho averages 31.1 3-point attempts per game and currently ranks second nationally to Western Illinois (369) with 311, but its .331 3-point field goal percentage is just outside the NCAA's top-100.
The Vandal women were picked to finish sixth by the coaches and eighth by the media in the preseason poll and have 11 returners from a year ago led by starters Christina Salvatore (10.7 ppg), Ali Forde (8.0 ppg, 8.1 rpg, 21 blocks) and Karlee Wilson (21 assists / 18 steals).
Geraldine McCorkell leads the Vandals with 13.8 ppg and Connie Ballestero has 43 assists to go with 8.3 ppg.
