Shelstead, Dimbas lead ACU to 5th straight victory, 68-53 over HBU

Interview with head coach Julie Goodenough

ABILENE – ACU's inside trio of Sydney Shelstead, Suzzy Dimba and Lizzy Dimba put on a dazzling display Wednesday night as the Wildcats closed out the home portion of their 2014-15 schedule with a dominating 68-53 win over Houston Baptist in Southland Conference basketball action at Moody Coliseum.

Those three combined to score 43 points, haul down 31 rebounds, dish out five assists, block nine shots and pick up seven steals to lead ACU to its fifth straight win and eighth win in its last 10 games. Shelstead finished with a career-high 27 points and her 10th double-double of the season (12th of her career) with 12 rebounds, while Lizzy Dimba had 13 points and seven rebounds.

Suzzy Dimba only had three points, but she dominated the game on the defensive end of the floor, coming up with 11 rebounds (seven defensive), six blocks and four steals in 34 minutes. Her six blocks tie the school single-game record, which has been done four times, the last time in January 2013 by Kelsey Smith against Incarnate Word. She was just 1 of 8 from the field – burying a 3-pointer late in the game – but it was her defensive effort that helped one of the league's top defensive teams pick up a season sweep of the Huskies.

"I thought I did pretty well defensively," Suzzy Dimba said. "I wasn't scoring it at all, and when that happens you have to find other ways to contribute, and that's what I did on the defensive end."

Shelstead and guard Alexis Mason picked up the scoring slack as Shelstead scored 19 first-half points on the way to topping her previous career high of 21 points, and Mason scored at least 20 for the fifth time this season. Shelstead was a force against HBU's tough front line, hitting 8 of 13 shots from the field and 11 of 12 free throws while pulling down 13 rebounds. she had one block and two steals as well as ACU held the Huskies to just 32.8 percent shooting from the field (22 of 67).

"I credit our defensive effort with that win and for being very intentional about keeping the ball away from their basket," said ACU head coach Julie Goodenough, who is now 55-29 in her third season with the Wildcats. "We wanted them taking shots from 17 feet and out, and for the most part we were able to do that."

HBU, in fact, was 0 for 11 from 3-point range and hit 22 of 56 shots inside the arc. ACU also struggled from beyond the arc (3 of 20), but hit 18 of 33 shots from inside the 3-point line with most of that damage coming inside where the Wildcats scored 36 points in the paint. The Wildcats also buried 23 of 28 free throws, including 9 of 11 by Mason, who was constantly on the move toward the basket.

"We wanted our guards to be very intentional about getting the ball inside and getting us to the free throw line," Goodenough said. "I thought they did a good job of being shot-ready when they would get a pass, and either taking a shot, driving or getting the ball inside."

ACU – which never trailed in the game – led by 36-26 at halftime and stretched the lead out to as many as 17 points late in the game. HBU closed to within seven points a couple of times early in the second half, but the Huskies never mounted much of a threat.

The Wildcats are now 16-10 overall and 8-7 in the Southland and have moved to within one game of fourth place in the league. ACU will finish its season with a three-game road trip to New Orleans (Saturday at 4 p.m.), at Incarnate Word (6 p.m. on March 5) and at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (6 p.m. on March 7).