Friday, November 11
Columbia, Mo.
7 p.m.
Abilene Christian
0-1
46
at
52
Missouri
1-0
1st quarter1
2nd quarter2
3rd quarter3
4th quarter4
FinalF
Abilene Christian
16
5
12
13
46
No. 24 Mizzou
15
10
6
21
52
Team Stats
ACU
MU-W
FG%
.288
.340
3FG%
.273
.130
FT%
.714
.714
RB
37
37
TO
22
20
STL
7
17
Game Leaders
Pts
11
FGM
3
3FGM
1
FTM
4
Pts
9
FGM
3
3FGM
3
FTM
0
Pts
8
FGM
3
3FGM
0
FTM
2
Pts
7
FGM
2
3FGM
0
FTM
3
Players Mentioned
F
/ Women's BasketballF
/ Women's BasketballG/F
/ Women's Basketball
G
/ Women's BasketballF
/ Women's Basketball
G
/ Women's BasketballPhoto by: Timothy Nwwchuwu
Valiant Wildcats fall at No. 24 Missouri, 52-46
11/11/2016 11:05:00 PM | Women's Basketball
COLUMBIA, Mo. — The short-handed ACU Wildcats had the No. 24 Missouri Tigers right where they wanted them Friday night in the first round of the Preseason Women's NIT at Mizzou Arena.
The Wildcats – playing without reigning Southland Conference Player of the Year Alexis Mason, who is out for an undisclosed period of time with an injury – had the Tigers on the ropes for most of the game, despite the fact that they were in foul trouble all night. Senior post Sydney Shelstead missed the final 16:30 of the first half after picking up two quick fouls, and senior forward Suzzy Dimba played in foul trouble most of the game.
Then throw in the fact that senior forward Lizzy Dimba was playing her first game after ACL reconstructive surgery last February and was playing on a bad ankle and the Wildcats were certainly primed for a blowout loss against the Tigers from the Southeastern Conference.
Instead, the Wildcats gave Missouri all it wanted before falling, 52-46, in front of a partisan Tiger crowd. ACU will return to action Tuesday at 7 p.m. when it hosts Howard Payne in Moody Coliseum before returning to WNIT play next week against undetermined opponents at a site to be determined. There's a chance those games will be played in Abilene, but ACU won't learn that news until early in the week after the first round is completed.
The Wildcats trailed Missouri 25-21 at halftime after being outscored 10-5 in the 10-minute second quarter. But the Wildcats dominated the third quarter, outscoring Missouri 12-6 to take a 33-31 lead into the fourth quarter. ACU's defense was outstanding in the third quarter as it didn't allow a field goal (0 for 10 by Missouri) and forced nine turnovers.
The game turned in Missouri's favor early in the fourth quarter as Sierra Michaelis scored nine of her 11 points in the final 10 minutes. After ACU freshman Dominique Golightly buried her third 3-pointer of the game to give ACU a 36-33 lead, Cierra Porter hit a jumper before Michaelis hit a jumper and then a 3-pointer to give Missouri a 40-36 lead with 7:08 to play, bringing the crowd to its feet.
After a layup by Lianna Doty gave Missouri a 42-36 lead, Michaelis got the defensive rebound of a Suzzy Dimba missed 3-pointer and raced downcourt, hitting a layup to make it 44-36, forcing an ACU timeout. The Missouri lead was 46-38 with 4:27 to play after a Porter layup before Suzzy Dimba hit 1 of 2 free throws and then Shelstead buried both free throws to make it a 46-41 deficit with 2:34 to play.
After two more Suzzy Dimba free throws cut it to a 46-43 lead with 2:25 to play, Sophie Cunningham hit a layup to push the lead back out to 48-43. ACU freshman point guard Breanna Wright then had back-to-back turnovers and Michaelis converted one of them into a layup to push Missouri back out in front, 50-43, with 2:11 to play.
Wright, however, made up for the two turnovers by burying a 3-pointer to make it a 50-46 game with 1:39 to play. But that was as close as the Wildcats would get as they went 0 for 3 from the field in the final 45 seconds.
"I thought we would play well, and I thought we did some really good things," ACU head coach Julie Goodenough said. "We got careless with the ball down the stretch and we had some turnovers that Missouri was able to capitalize on.
"This was definitely a valiant effort by our team in light of the circumstances," Goodenough said, "but you sure don't want to lose games when you have a chance to win."
Suzzy Dimba led the Wildcats with 11 points and five rebounds, while Shelstead had eight points and 10 rebounds in just 16 minutes. Lizzy Dimba gutted out 31 minutes on two gimpy legs, finishing with six points, five rebounds and two steals, while Wright played 40 minutes in her first collegiate game, finishing with five points, four rebounds, one assist and one steal.
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