ABILENE - Fans of Abilene Christian women's basketball have long craved a playoff atmosphere in Moody Coliseum, and on Friday night they received a classic with the Wildcats grinding their way past Omaha, 73-66, in a Preseason WNIT Consolation Game.
The victory lifted the Wildcats' early-season record to 2-1 as they extended their home winning streak to 19 games, while the Mavericks fell to 0-2 with both their losses coming in the Preseason WNIT.
In a game that saw 20 lead changes and seven ties, Omaha watched their two-point third-quarter lead quickly fizzle as the Wildcats hit their first two field goals of the final quarter.
Lizzy Dimba hit one of her three treys 28 second into the fourth, and after a missed jumper by Omaha's Michaela Dapprich, the Wildcats got a layup from
Sydney Shelstead to make it an 58-55 game.
The contest soon resumed its tug-of-war feel as the Mavericks retook the lead once more on a 6-2 run with all those points scored by Mikaela Shaw. She led her side with 13 points and her 3-point play put Omaha ahead 61-60 with 6:26 to go.
From there the two sides combined to hit three straight baskets in less than 40 seconds, the last of which was a
Lizzy Dimba layup that pulled the Wildcats back into the lead at 64-63.
The deciding play, however, came a minute later with the Wildcats still clinging to that one-point lead. Remy Davenport missed a 3-pointer for the Mavs and as ACU worked to establish a shot the ball was knocked loose, leading to a mad scramble on Omaha's side of the half-court line. The Wildcats, thankfully, ended up with control and with less than three seconds left on the shot clock,
Suzzy Dimba hit a desperation 3-pointer at the buzzer. That basket made it 67-63 in ACU's favor with 3:54 to go.
ACU's defense then clamped down on Omaha for the remainder of the game, holding them to just three points with one field goal. Following an offensive foul on the Mavericks with 24 seconds left,
Dominique Golightly put the game away with a pair of free throws. The freshman scored eight points off the bench with a pair of treys.
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Lizzy Dimba and
Sydney Shelstead led the Wildcats with 18 points each, while
Sierra Allen contributed 12 points in 13 minutes on 5-of-6 shooting. Lizzy scored her 18 points on 7-of-8 shooting and was a perfect 3-of-3 from 3-point range and Shelstead knocked down five field goals to go along with seven free throws.
Omaha was hurt by poor shooting all night at the free-throw line (7-19, .368) and after making 11 3-pointers through the first 30 minutes, finished the game 0-for-5 beyond the arc.
The first half was extremely competitive as there were 13 lead changes with four of those coming on the final four possessions. Golightly hit a 3-pointer to put the home team ahead by two points for its first lead since the 8:22 mark, but the Mavs immediately countered with a trey from Ellie Brecht coming out of a time out to make it a 32-31 game.
Allen sank a layup to bring the lead back to ACU with 26 seconds remaining, but Omaha went on to enter the break ahead by one point, 34-33, following a jumper by Shaw.
The two sides combined for 13 treys in the first half on 33 percent shooting and Omaha continued to shoot the three ball well into the third quarter, making three of five attempts but never led by more than four points as the Wildcats hit 8-of-14 field goals, including a Golightly three that gave ACU a short-lived one-point lead at 47-46.
From there the Mavs hit two consecutive baskets in rebuilding their four-point lead and went into the fourth ahead by two, 55-53, following Allen's jumper in the paint with 39 seconds remaining.
The Wildcats conclude their time in the Preseason WNIT Saturday at 6 p.m. against UT Rio Grande Valley or North Texas.
