Women's Basketball | 1/16/2016 8:33:00 PM
Box Score NACOGDOCHES – ACU junior guard
Alexis Mason was voted last week's Southland Conference Player of the Week for her performance in Wildcat wins over Northwestern State and Nicholls.
She completed her campaign for next week's award with a dominating fourth quarter Saturday afternoon to help the Wildcats continue the program's best start since 1996-97 with an 85-70 win over Stephen F. Austin at Johnson Coliseum.
The win is the 10
th straight for the Wildcats, who improve to 14-2 overall and 5-0 in the league. ACU's win Saturday is first against the Lady Jacks after losing the first five meetings between the two in a series that dates back to the 1972-73 season.
After scoring 26 points last Wednesday night in ACU's home win over McNeese State, Mason scored 15 of her 21 points in a dominant fourth quarter as the Wildcats turned a 60-59 deficit early in the final quarter into a 15-point win. ACU, in fact, outscored the Ladyjacks 26-10 in the final 8:26 of the fourth quarter to pull away for the win.
Mason scored 12 of the Wildcats' 26 points in the decisive run, including a 3-pointer and going 9 of 10 from the free throw line. The Wildcats took advantage of sloppy play by the Ladyjacks (26 turnovers, including seven in the fourth quarter) to turn a close game into a blowout.
Mason and
Sydney Shelstead (eight of her team-high 22 points in the fourth quarter) keyed the run for the Wildcats with layups, drives to the bucket or free throws.
"We did a great job of getting defensive stops in the fourth quarter and either getting layups or getting to the free throw line," ACU head coach
Julie Goodenough said. "The defensive play in the fourth quarter elevated us, but Alexis was the difference on the offensive end.
"Sydney is just so physically strong and she was unstoppable in the post in the fourth quarter," Goodenough said. "She really did a great job of getting open, working hard for the ball and converting when she had her chances."
ACU dominated every facet of the final 10 minutes, hitting 8 of 10 shots from the field (2 of 2 from 3-point range with Mason and Whitney Swinford each burying a 3-pointer) and knocking down 11 of 14 free throws. SFA, meanwhile, hit just 6 of 16 shots from the field in the quarter (1 of 4 from 3-point range) and only went to the free throw line four times and hitting three of those.
The final score belies how tight the game was for the three quarters. ACU trailed 22-14 at the end of the first quarter, but used a big second-quarter run to take a 35-34 halftime lead with Shelstead scoring 12 first-half points to spark the Wildcats to a halftime advantage.
SFA pushed out to as much as a six-point lead in the third quarter (45-39) after a jumper by Taylor Schippers with 5:29 left in the quarter before ACU finished the 10-minute frame with a 17-9 run to regain a two-point advantage (56-54) entering the final 10 minutes.
Swinford had a pair of 3-pointers and seven points in the run to end the quarter, while Mason and
Paris Webb had four points and Shelstead a bucket for ACU. Freshman
Sara Williamson also played key minutes in place of
Suzzy Dimba, who exited the game with 8:38 left in the third quarter after picking up her third foulof the contest.
"We had some girls come off the bench –
Paris Webb and
Sara Williamson in particular – and give us some really quality minutes," Goodenough said. "l thought after the first half we got into our game and how we want to play. SFA gave us a great game (Saturday). We have to know that everyone is going to give us their best shot, but especially at home. I was really glad to see us flip the switch in the second half and get this win."
Swinford – who didn't score last Wednesday in the win over McNeese State – had 18 big points in the game, and she buried 4 of 6 from 3-point range to give her 205 career 3-pointers as she moves closer to Ashley King's ACU career record of 239.
