Game Notes
Live Stats vs. Grand Canyon | Audio Live Stats vs. Eastern Michigan | Audio COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – After Abilene Christian men's basketball recently pushed Colorado State to double overtime, head coach
Julie Goodenough won't allow her Wildcats to use the mile-high altitude of the United States Air Force Academy as an excuse while preparing for Friday's and Saturday's neutral-site games vs. Grand Canyon and Eastern Michigan.
The Wildcats face the 'Lopes of GCU for the second time in three seasons Friday at 8 p.m. (CT) and the Eagles Saturday at 3 p.m. in the first meeting between schools. Live stats are available through AirForceStats.com and ACU Assistant Director for Media Relations
Chris Macaluso will call the play-by-play action from Clune Arena for both internet-only broadcasts.
With ACU making its first appearance at Air Force in close to 30 years and senior Whitney (West) Swinford the only player left from the last Wildcat squad to play in Mesa, Colorado for the 2013 NCAA DII Regional Tournament game vs. UT Permian Basin – Goodenough started Thursday's meeting with some altitude antidotes.
First she told the team that the altitude would have a greater impact on their opponents GCU (1106 ft.) and EMU (676 ft.) than it will on them as Abilene sits 1,719 feet above sea level. A second advantage for ACU is that those two schools will have to face a Falcon team that's already adjusted to their surroundings. She also reminded the team of the importance of staying hydrated (waters and Gatorades) and stretching.
The Wildcats began their extensive five-day, three-game road trip Wednesday night at Texas Tech, where they Lady Raiders held on for a 71-65 victory.
ACU trailed by 12 points early in the fourth quarter (56-44) before ripping off a 16-6 run over the next 5:32 to cut the Lady Raiders' lead to 62-60 with 4:03 to play.
Lizzy Dimba keyed the run with six points, while Swinford had five points,
Sydney Shelstead three and
Suzzy Dimba a pair of free throws to end the run that got ACU back into the game.
But after the Wildcats closed to within 62-60, ACU finished the game 1 of 10 from the field with its last basket a 3-pointer from Swinford with nine seconds remaining. The Lady Raiders were able to pull away and Dayo Olabode's dagger 3-pointer with 1:36 to play gave Tech a 68-60 lead and ACU wouldn't get closer than four points the rest of the way.
Swinford and
Suzzy Dimba shared the team lead with 14 points, while
Alexis Mason had 12.
Suzzy Dimba also recorded her second double-double of the season with 11 rebounds and extended her consecutive block streak to 19 games.
Grand Canyon, which defeated ACU 70-57 two seasons ago at North Texas, comes into this weekend at 2-5 following an 0-4 showing at the prestigious Naismith Memorial Hall of Fame Challenge. The 'Lopes lost three straight in Spokane, Wash., to USC, Gonzaga and West Virginia from Nov. 22-24 and then traveled across the country to Uncasville, Conn., where they fell to Fairleigh Dickinson, 74-68, this past Sunday.
Cheyenne Hedrington (12.4) and Dana Jones (10.4) are pacing GCU in the scoring column with double-digit scoring averages through seven games.
GCU was picked to finish fifth in the WAC's preseason poll and return four starters and seven letterwinners including Courtney Hayes, a Second Team All-WAC selection and last year's leading scorer Jessica Gajewski (10.6 ppg)
The Eagles are preseason favorites to win the MAC's West Division are off to 3-1 start with their lone defeat coming at No. 11/12 Kentucky, 89-67. They began the year with back-to-back home wins over Hillsdale (94-77) and UT Rio Grande Valley (78-56), and earlier this week they defeated former Southland Conference school Oral Roberts, 77-69.
Cha Sweeney was the lone Eagle named to the All-MAC Preseason squad and she is second on the team to Janay Morton (20.3 ppg) with 18.3 points per game.
