Women's Basketball | 1/15/2016 2:38:00 PM
Game Notes Live Stats | Video | Audio ABILENE – Abilene Christian women's basketball begins a three-game road trip Saturday at William R. Johnson Coliseum in Nacogdoches, Texas, home to the defending Southland Conference regular season champions from Stephen F. Austin.
The game tips off at 4 p.m. and will be broadcast nationally on
ESPN3 as well as locally on Abilene's
98.1 FM – The Ticket with 'The Voice of the Wildcats
Grant Boone handling the play-by-play for both ends of the women's and men's doubleheader.
ACU is 3-0 all-time on ESPN3 with wins coming against Southeastern Louisiana, Incarnate Word and Sam Houston State. The Wildcats will be featured again on ESPN3 for their Feb. 21 home game at Moody Coliseum vs. the Lady Lions.
The Ladyjacks rolled through the Southland Conference to win last year's regular-season crown behind a record of 15-2, but in a strange twist they lost in the tournament's first round, 88-81, to a Houston Baptist team that only made the field as a result of ACU's ineligibly for postseason competition.
The Wildcats placed eighth in the league at 9-9 and the Huskies were ninth at 6-12, yet made it all the way to the conference title game where they lost to No. 6 seed Northwestern State for a shot at the NCAA Championships.
SFA, meanwhile, was an easy selection for the WNIT, only to lose 85-80 to TCU in Fort Wort during the opening round.
This year's edition of the Ladyjacks got off to a fine start, winning four of their first five games with their only loss coming at Louisiana Tech. But since beating Indiana State in late November, they are 3-7 with wins over Rice, A&M Commerce and McNeese.
SFA's 80-55 win over the Cowgirls at home was followed by three consecutive conference losses to Southeastern Louisiana, 65-56, Central Arkansas, 55-53, and New Orleans, 58-57 – results that make the Southland Conference look even more unpredictable than originally expected.
The Ladyjacks were one of four teams in the coaches' preseason poll to receive a first-place vote along with Lamar, McNeese and Northwestern State, but they enter Saturday's game 7-8 overall and 3.0 games behind first-place ACU (13-2, 4-0 SLC).
Taylor Ross (14.9 ppg), Brentney Branch (10.8 ppg) and Stevi Parker (10.4 ppg / 7.9 rpg) lead SFA in scoring this season. Ross was a second team all-Southland Conference selection in 2015.
The Wildcats are red-hot right now, winners of their last nine games – four of which have come against the conference and six of which have been on the road. In fact, ACU's start is its best since the mid-1990's when the Wildcats regularly contended for the Lone Star Conference and NCAA DII Championships.
ACU certainly showed no signs of slowing down Thursday at home, defeating McNeese for the second straight year, 79-62.
The Wildcats led by as many as 11 points in the first half only to see the Cowgirls take off on a 30-18 run over the next 12 minutes in grabbing their first and only lead at 33-32. ACU, however, rallied to take a one-point lead into halftime and outscored McNeese in the second half, 42-26.
The visitors shot just .269 for the game and only went to the foul line twice in the second half after making 19 trips in the first half. Post players
Sydney Shelstead (22/12) and
Suzzy Dimba (11/11) each had a double-double vs. McNeese while guard
Alexis Mason finished three points shy of her single-game high with 26 points on 9-17 shooting.
The first of Shelstead's 12 rebounds was the 500th of her career.
