ABILENE – Texas A&M-Corpus Christi entered Wednesday night's Southland Conference women's game at Moody Coliseum as, statistically, a better defensive team than the ACU Wildcats.
But the large and loud crowd on hand would say otherwise on the way out of the coliseum after watching the Wildcats dismantle the Islanders, 76-41, in one o f their most impressive all-around performances in head coach
Julie Goodenough's three years at ACU.
The Wildcats' third straight win – and sixth in their last eight games – ;pushes them to 14-10 overall and 6-7 in the Southland. The Islanders, meanwhile, are now 12-13 and 8-6 after posting their second-lowest point total of the season. ACU is back in action Saturday in Hammond, La., against Southeastern Louisiana. The game is set for a 4:30 p.m. tip and can be seen on ESPN3.
The Islanders entered Wednesday night's contest ranked No. 2 in the league in scoring defense (allowing 58.2 ppg), No. 1 in field goal percentage defense (allowing opponents to shoot just 37.2 percent from the field), and No. 1 in 3-point field goal percentage defense (allowing opponents to shoot just 29.2 percent from the field).
The Wildcats, however, were right on their heels in each category, ranking No. 4 in scoring defense (62.8 ppg), No. 2 in field goal percentage defense (38.6 percent shooting by opponents), and No. 4 in 3-point field goal percentage defense (30.7 percent shooting by opponents).
But it would be hard to argue ACU wasn't the better defensive team on this night as the Wildcats allowed Corpus Christi to shoot just 30.9 percent from the floor (17 of 55), 15.4 percent from 3-point range (2 of 13), gave up just 41 points and forced 27 turnovers. Those turnovers were turned into 30 points for the Wildcats, who dominated the Islanders in all of the "inside-the-game" numbers: bench points (20-15), fast-break points (6-2), second-chance points (13-9), points off turnovers (30-6), and points in the paint (28-22).
The Islanders, meanwhile, saw the Wildcats shoot 46.3 percent from the field (25 of 54), including 47.6 percent from 3-point range (10 of 21) and score the second-most points an opponent has posted against them this year (77 by UNLV in a season-opening 77-65 loss on Nov. 14, 2014, are the most this season).
"Our defensive intensity created a lot of problems for Corpus Christi and gave us a lot of second-chance points and points off turnovers," Goodenough said. "I really credit our defense for this win. All 10 players were ferocious on the defensive end of the floor."
ACU never trailed in the game, jumping out to a 7-1 lead, extending it to 25-13 with 10:07 left in the half on a 3-pointer by
Suzzy Dimba, and carrying a 39-26 lead into halftime. The Wildcats absolutely dominated the second 20 minutes, outscoring the Islanders 37-15 and holding them to just 20.7 percent shooting from the field (6 of 29).
The Wildcats were consistent in the second half, hitting 13 of 28 shots from the floor (46.4 percent), including 44.4 percent from the 3-point line (4 of 9). ACU outscored Corpus Christi 20-6 in the first 11-27 of the second half to stretch the lead to 59-32. The Wildcats took their first 30-point lead with 4:57 to play when freshmen
Sierra Allen – who scored a career-high six points in the win – converted a three-point play to make it 67-35. ACU's biggest lead came with 24 seconds left when Dimba hit a layup to make it 76-40.
Sydney Shelstead – who scored the first four points of the game for ACU – finished with a game-high 18 points to go along with five rebounds and three steals.
Suzzy Dimba had 15 points, seven rebounds, three assists, two blocks and one steal in 32 minutes, while Whiteny West had 14 points on 4 of 6 shooting from the field, including 4 of 5 from 3-point range.
