MOSCOW, Idaho – ACU freshman
Sara Williamson scored all seven of her points in overtime Sunday afternoon as the Wildcats finished off their quick two-game road trip with a 71-59 win over Idaho at the Cowan Spectrum.
With the win, the Wildcats improve to 8-2 after a win Friday over Eastern Washington and Sunday's win over Idaho. The Vandals, meanwhile, fall to 7-4. ACU is off until New Year's Eve when it hosts Schreiner University at 2 p.m. at Moody Coliseum.
The Wildcats and Vandals are two of the top 3-point shooting teams in NCAA Division I women's basketball, but neither could find any rhythm from beyond the arc in Sunday afternoon's contest. In fact, they combined to hit just 11 of 56 shots from 3-point range (6 for 25 for ACU) in the game.
But it was ACU senior Whitney Swinford who hit a huge 3-pointer when her team needed it the most late in the fourth quarter. With ACU trailing 52-50, Swinford shook off her poor shooting day (0 for 9 from 3-point range at the time) to bury a 3-pointer with 55 seconds to play to give the Wildcats a 53-52 lead.
After a turnover by
Suzzy Dimba with just 27 seconds to play gave the Vandals the ball gack, Idaho's Ali Forde grabbed an offensive rebound with five seconds left and was fouled by Dimba. Forde made the first free throw but missed the second to tie the game at 53-53. Idaho's Geraldine McCorkell grabbed the offensive rebound after the miss, but her layup fell off the rim and
Lizzy Dimba secured the loose ball to send the game to overtime.
Once in the extra five minutes, the Wildcats dominated play as Williamson and
Lizzy Dimba hit back-to-back layups to give ACU a 57-53 lead. Williamson then buried a 3-pointer followed by a free throw for
Suzzy Dimba and a layup by Swinford to give ACU a 63-56 lead with 1:22 to play. Swinford and
Suzzy Dimba then hit 1 of 2 free throws each before Williamson dropped two free throws and
Alexis Mason finished off the game by going 4 for 4 from the line in the game's final 20 seconds to seal the victory.
Sunday's game was tight throughout as neither team enjoyed a lead of more than five points during regulation. Idaho's biggest lead in regulation was 12-7 early in the first quarter, while ACU's largest lead of four points came several times in the final three quarters.
The Wildcats shot just 35.2 percent from the floor (25 of 71), including 24.0 percent from 3-point range (6 of 25), but were able to pull out the victory.
Lizzy Dimba finished with a double-double (13 points, 10 rebounds), while
Sydney Shelstead had a game-high 18 points and nine rebounds. Mason finished with 12 points, while
Suzzy Dimba had eight points and 11 rebounds to go along with three assists, two blocks and four steals.
