ABILENE – Abilene Christian women's basketball produced one of its best defensive quarters of the season Thursday night in holding Northwestern State to only six third-quarter points and then exorcised the Lady Demons for good behind 25 fourth-quarter points en route to a 67-46 victory at Moody Coliseum.
The Wildcats (11-2, 2-0 Southland) pushed their overall winning streak to seven games with the victory and lifted their home mark to 6-0, while the two-time defending Southland Conference Tournament champions fell to 9-5 overall and 2-1 vs. the league.
"That was the game I had anticipated," said
Julie Goodenough, who improved to 67-33 (.670) through 100 career games with the Wildcats. "Those were two really good teams playing really hard and getting after it for four quarters.
"We were tight in the first half and didn't knock down shots that we normally hit. But our starters did a great job of getting us going in the second half, and once we got some separation we were in control the rest of the game."
The Lady Demons – a favorite of several Southland Coaches to win another league title this season – came into tonight's game winners of five straight, including two convincing league wins over Houston Baptist (55-44) and Sam Houston State (69-49) but their offense was ice cold from the floor during the second and third quarters thanks to a staunch defensive effort by the Wildcats.
NSU made just 3-of-12 field goals during an eight-point second quarter after which it trailed 29-26, but the Wildcats knew perfectly well they'd have to play a flawless second half to ensure a victory. Because in each of their two previous meetings with the Lady Demons the Wildcats had seen halftime leads of seven and 13 points quickly disappear.
ACU led NSU 38-31 at the half during their 2014 meeting only to lose 76-72, and last season the Wildcats gave up 46 points in the second half after leading the Lady Demons at the break, 28-15.
In many cases a team can put games such as those behind them, but with eight returning letterwinners from last year's team it behooved the Wildcats to confront the challenges Northwestern State once again posed to them.
"There was a lot of conversation about the last two games (against Northwestern State) on our part," said Goodenough. "We were in position to win both of those games at their place (Natchitoches, La.) and we let their experience overtake us and beat us. Tonight, though, we were the experienced team and with them coming to our place we felt like this one was one we had to have."
History would certainly not be repeated tonight as the Lady Demons hit just one three pointer during a 1-for-12 (.083) third quarter. ACU's offense during the second and third quarters wasn't spectacular either (9-24, .375) but the Wildcats got to the foul line twice as many times and absolutely destroyed NSU on the glass, 25-12, in taking a 42-32 lead into the final quarter.
ACU finished the game with a whopping +28 rebounding margin (48-20) and its fourth-quarter offense included four 3-pointers as the Wildcats missed only two of 11 field goal attempts (.818) during the final 10 minutes.
A 3-pointer by Keisha Lee with 7:35 left in regulation made it a nine-point game at 48-39 but the Wildcats countered with three consecutive treys from
Alexis Mason and
Whitney West Swinford during a two-minute stretch to put the game largely out of reach at 57-40 and 5:15 remaining.
NSU went on a mini 6-0 run to trim its deficit to 11 with 3:39 to go but on the following possession
Lizzy Dimba sank a fast-break layup off an assist from her twin sister, Suzzy, and then a missed 3-pointer by Beatric Attura led to a bucket from
Sydney Shelstead.
Mason scored the next five points for ACU to put them up by 20 and
Suzzy Dimba scored the game's final point with 28 seconds left as the Wildcats kept NSU from hitting a field goal over the final 4:53.
Janelle Perez, who made 10-of-11 field goals in scoring 27 points earlier this week vs. Sam Houston State, tonight was held to 16 points on 6-17 shooting (3-10 from 3-point range). Attura was the only other Lady Demon to reach double figures in scoring with 11 points while the three other starters combined for just 10 points.
NSU started the game shooting 50 percent (7-14) from the field but saw that number drop as the game rolled on. By comparison, ACU overcame a poor start shooting-wise (4-15, .267) with a 50 percent third quarter and its monstrous fourth-quarter performance.
ACU outshot the Lady Demons overall, .440 to .306.
Mason was solid from the floor and (8-15, .533) and led all scorers tonight with 23 points in 36 minutes, while
Sydney Shelstead registered her third double-double of the year with 16 points and 13 rebounds. She also blocked two shots and had a hand in two steals.
Swinford finished with 13 points on 4-8 shooting from 3-point range and
Suzzy Dimba dished out a team-high five assists to go along with 10 rebounds, three steals and a thunderous block near the end of the fourth quarter that extended her block streak to a sixth game. She came into the game averaging a conference best 2.0 blocks per game and has at least one block in 12 of 13 contests this season.
Lizzy Dimba pulled down nine rebounds in 30 minutes.
The Wildcats are back in action Sunday at 1 p.m. at Nicholls.
Grant Boone will call the game on Abilene's 98.1 FM – The Ticket.
ACU is 1-1 all-time vs. the Lady Colonels. The Wildcats won in Thibodaux in 2014, 78-62, but lost last year's game at home, 63-39. ACU rebounded from that defeat with a convincing 75-59 road win at McNeese to snap a three-game conference losing streak.
