CONWAY, Ark. – The complexion of Saturday's Southland Conference opener between ACU and Central Arkansas changed as soon as the locker room doors slammed behind the Wildcats as they hit the locker room with a one-point lead.
After watching the Sugar Bears out-rebound her team 31-14 in the first half – including 19-1 on the offensive glass – ACU head coach
Julie Goodenough used the halftime locker room for a few teaching moments. The result of those moments was a dominant second-half performance for the Wildcats, who pulled away in the second half to take a 61-49 win at the Farris Center.
The win wasn't secured until a pair of late fourth quarter 3-pointers, first by junior
Alexis Mason and finally by senior point guard Whitney Swinford to give the Wildcats a 57-44 lead with 2:35 left in the game. After the game, however, Swinford pointed to halftime as the point where the game changed for the Wildcats.
"They're really good," Swinford said of the Sugar Bears. "But we came up here knowing we could play with them and win this game. It would be safe to say that we talked about rebounding quite a bit at halftime.
"Very loudly at times," she said with a smile.
After giving up 19 offensive rebounds and 11 second-chance points in the first half (half of UCA's first-half offensive total), the Wildcats gave up just one offensive rebound and one second-chance point in the second half. ACU, in fact, out-rebounded the Sugar Bears 18-10 in the second half, outscoring the Sugar Bears 38-27 in the second half.
"That game turned on our ability to limit them to one shot in the second half," Goodenough said. "We might have talked about that at halftime, and I was proud of the way we came out in the second half and executed. They do a tremendous job on the defensive end, and they forced us to run our offense and be patient."
Against the top scoring defense in NCAA Division I women's basketball (allowing just 45.0 points per game and a meager 31.3 percent shooting from the field by opponents), the Wildcats shot 44.9 percent from the field (22 of 49) and scored the second-most points the Sugar Bears have allowed this season behind the 102 they gave up to Tennessee on Nov. 15.
The Wildcats – who entered the taking 26 3-pointers and making eight per game – were just 6 of 13 from beyond the arc, their third-fewest makes and second-fewest attempts of the season. But the two that Mason and Swinford hit late in the fourth quarter were two of the biggest of the season.
ACU entered the fourth quarter with a 40-34 lead and increased it to 50-40 with 6:03 to play on a jumper by
Sydney Shelstead before the Sugar Bears cut the ACU advantage to 50-44 on a jumper by Brianna Mullins.
But a few seconds later, Swinford drove the left side of the lane and found Mason in the deep corner, and she drilled a 3-pointer to put ACU back up 53-44 with 3:43 to play. After a free throw by Swinford made it a 54-44 game, Mullins turned the ball over, and that turned into a 3-pointer from Swinford at the 2:35 mark that gave the Wildcats a 57-44 lead, sealing the win.
Swinford surpassed 1,000 career points in the game, finishing with 15 points to give her 1,006 for her career. She also had three rebounds, three assists, one block and just one turnover in 38 minutes against UCA's tough defense. Shelstead had 19 points, nine rebounds, one block and three steals in 39 minutes, while Mason had 12 points and
Lizzy Dimba 10 points and eight rebounds.
ACU is now 10-2 overall and 1-0 in the Southland, while UCA falls to 10-2 and 0-1. The Wildcats will be back in action next Sunday at 1 p.m. against Nicholls in Thibodaux, La.
