Women's Basketball | 12/15/2016 10:21:00 AM
ACU vs. Wichita State:
Live Stats |
Video (ESPN3) |
Audio (98.1 FM-The Ticket) |
Game Notes
ACU vs. Murray State: Live Stats |
Audio (98.1 FM-The Ticket) |
Game Notes
ABILENE - Abilene Christian women's basketball looks to continue its winning ways during the holiday season when the Wildcats visit Wichita State and Charles Koch Arena this Friday and Saturday for the Winter Shocker Classic.
ACU's game against the Shockers tips off Friday at 7 p.m. The Wildcats will then return to the court just over 12 hours later to battle Murray State at 11 a.m. The Wildcats have not faced either of these schools nor any member of their respective conferences (Missouri Valley, Ohio Valley).
Both games will air locally in the Key City on 98.1 FM – The Ticket and include a live stats option. Friday's contest against the host school was additionally picked up by
ESPN3. The Wildcats are making their first of four appearances this season on
ESPN3 and are 5-1 overall when their games are shown on the online platform.
ACU was last in action Dec. 10 at Moody Coliseum, where it snapped a season-worst four-game losing streak behind a comeback 74-62 victory over Harding. The Bisons started the game ahead 13-7, but the Wildcats finished the first quarter on a 16-7 run and would never trail again. Senior guard
Alexis Mason started her first game of the season and scored 18 points on 7-18 shooting with four 3-pointers that brought her within 20 of tying Ashley King's program record of 239. Mason enters this weekend with 220 3-pointers on 652 tries (.337).
The Wildcats again received quality minutes from junior
Sierra Allen, who scored 15 points on three treys and a couple free throws and
Suzzy Dimba recorded her first double-double of the season (30th of her career) with 11 points on 5-8 shooting and 10 rebounds, four of which were off the offensive glass.
ACU has played exceedingly well this time of year and in these types of tournaments since
Julie Goodenough took over the program five seasons ago. The Wildcats' appearance at the Shocker Winter Classic is its sixth in-season DI tournament appearance since 2013-14 and their overall record in such events, during which they're scheduled to play on back-to-back days, is an impressive 8-3.
This trend started in late December of 2013 when ACU won the final two games of a Christmas tournament hosted by Texas Tech. The Wildcats lost 67-63 to Florida Atlantic but bounced back Saturday and Sunday to beat Jacksonville, 76-72, and the Lady Raiders, 58-57.
ACU then won the UMKC Plaza Lights Classic over George Mason and the Kangaroos in 2014, and swept the competition from Grand Canyon and Eastern Michigan at the 2015 Air Force Classic.
Just last month the Wildcats posted consecutive wins over Omaha and UT Rio Grande Valley in the Preseason WNIT Consolation bracket, marking the fifth time in as many years the Wildcats won games on back-to-back nights.
Furthermore, the Wildcats are an impressive 15-5 (.750) over the past six seasons during their December Winter Break games. ACU went 1-1 at home in late 2010 before winning four-consecutive games at back-to-back West Texas Lady Buff Classics played between 2011 and 2012, beating Shaw, Southwestern Oklahoma, Arkansas-Fort Smith and Emporia State.
As was mentioned previously, ACU won two of three games at Texas Tech in December of 2013 and started the 2014 break with home wins over Southwestern Christian and Air Force. Last December the Wildcats won games at Eastern Washington and Idaho before defeating Schreiner on New Year's Eve. Last week they added to their ledger a 12-point win vs. Harding.
Wichita State enters this weekend at 3-5 and has played a schedule equally as tough as the Wildcats, falling to teams from Missouri, Stanford and Purdue in addition to buzzer-beater defeat to UMKC, 56-54.
Murray State has won its last two games to enter this tournament at 6-4. One of those victories was an overtime 72-69 decision at Northern Kentucky, which counts former Wildcat assistant Matt Stine as one of its coaches. The Racers also have toppled teams from Eureka, Alabama A&M, UNC Greensboro, Lipscomb and Macmurray.
