CHENEY, Wash. – Abilene Christian women's basketball shot a season-high .532 and had four individuals reach double figures in scoring as the Wildcats pushed their road winning streak to three games following a convincing 72-60 win Friday night at Eastern Washington's Reese Court.
ACU (7-2) also defeated the Eagles at home last November 79-72 and is now 4-2 all-time against current Big Sky Conference schools.
Alexis Mason and
Suzzy Dimba tied for the team lead with 14 points.
Lizzy Dimba had 13 points and
Whitney West Swinford hit a pair of 3-pointers in finishing with 12 points.
Eastern Washington (6-5) came into tonight riding a three-game winning streak with victories coming against Utah Valley at home and Fullerton and Wichita State on the road. But the Wildcats' defense had the Eagles flustered from the very start and the home team shot well below its season averages from the floor (21-60, .350) and 3-point range (6-26, .231).
Both teams were rather pedestrian from the foul line as well, but the Wildcats managed to get there almost twice as many times (29-16) and made 17 free throws led by
Lizzy Dimba's 5-of-5 performance.
The Eagles' sister pairing of Hayley and Delaney Hodgins was responsible for 31 of their team's 60 points on a combined 10-of-26 shooting with five 3-pointers, but starting guard Tisha Phillips only produced three points on 1-of-12 shooting in 34 minutes and EWU's 6-foot post players Ashli Payne and Mariah Cunningham finished only with 10 and six points, respectively.
EWU made its first 3-point attempt 17 seconds into the game, but the remainder of the first quarter belonged to ACU as the Wildcats responded with a 19-6 run over the final eight minutes. A 3-pointer from Mason gave the Wildcats their first lead at the 6:53 mark, and after Hayley Hodgins dropped in a layup with 4:47 to put the Eagles back up by one point at 8-7, Swinford buried a trey on ACU's very next possession.
The Wildcats would never trail again.
Hodgins' layup was EWU's last field goal of the quarter and the Wildcats went into the stoppage ahead 19-10. The Eagles' shooting woes continued much of the second quarter as well, and after getting to within seven points on an Alissa Sealby layup, EWU experienced another prolonged scoring drought that lasted close to five minutes.
ACU also went several minutes without a second-quarter basket but finished strong as a pair of three-point plays from
Lizzy Dimba and a Swinford 3-pointer pushed the Wildcats' advantage back into the double digits.
With one second left in the half, freshman
Sara Williamson hit a free throw to give ACU a 36-23 lead at the break.
EWU started to make up some ground with a 19-point third quarter and then trimmed the Wildcats' lead down to five points with about eight minutes left in regulation as the Eagles' began the final stanza with an 8-2 run. ACU then built its lead back up to nine points with several free throws as EWU again went cold from the floor for the better part of three minutes.
The Eagles made one last charge halfway through the fourth quarter as a jumper by Sealby was followed by a turnover and fast-break layup by Delaney Hodgins that made it a 59-54 game with 5:07 to go.
EWU got a stop on ACU's next possession but couldn't capitalize as Swinford came down with a defensive rebound following Shelstead's block of a Sealby jumper. That play led to a
Suzzy Dimba 3-pointer, and after Tisha Phillips coughed up the ball at the other end, Mason ran it back for an easy layup that gave the Wildcats' a 64-54 lead.
ACU would maintain its double-digit lead for the better part of the final four minutes as the Eagles finished the game 0-for-5 from the field with three turnovers.
ACU's bench chipped in 14 points tonight and with the interior game firing on all cylinders all night, the Wildcats' put up a season-low 12 3-point attempts while outscoring the Eagles in the paint, 34-22.
Swinford was as much a force defensively tonight as she was on offense, forcing three turnovers and tying a career high with three blocks, while senior guard
Paris Webb assisted on four baskets in only 15 minutes off the bench.
Twenty-nine of the Wildcats' 35 rebounds were off the defensive glass led by Shelstead's eight.
Lizzy Dimba was right behind her with seven and had a team-high four steals to go along with her two assists. Her sister, Suzzy, meanwhile tied a season high with a .571 shooting percentage (5-7) in 18 minutes of action and recorded one block that was her 16th of the season. She has blocked at least one shot in eight of this season's nine games.
The Wildcats return to action Sunday with a 12 p.m. (CT) / 2 p.m. (PT) game vs. Idaho, which is one of the most active 3-point shooting teams in the nation. This game is ACU's last on its current five-game road trip (3-1).
ACU returns home to Moody Coliseum Thursday, December 31 at 2 p.m. vs. Schriener, which is the Wildcats' last non-conference opponent of the season.
