ABILENE - Abilene Christian women's basketball suffered a 71-68 overtime loss Saturday at Moody Coliseum to UMKC, which received the game-winning 3-pointer from India Johnson with two seconds remaining.
The loss is ACU's fourth-straight, dropping its overall record to 3-5, while the Kangaroos improved to 4-3. The defeat also snapped ACU's 20-game home winning streak, which was the nation's fourth-longest active streak prior to today.
The Wildcats led for the better part of 41 minutes and by as many as 15 points late in the second quarter but couldn't keep pace with UMKC for much of the second half. The 'Roos outscored ACU in the fourth quarter, 18-9, despite never taking the lead, but they were able to send it to overtime after Samantha Waldron's game-tying layup (61-61) with 25 seconds left was followed by
Sara Williamson's last-second miss from the corner.
ACU got off to a good start offensively playing in its first overtime game since its Dec. 20 win at Idaho last year, getting a quick 3-pointer from
Alexis Mason, and then a defensive rebound and layup from
Suzzy Dimba that put the Wildcats ahead 66-61 with 3:37 to go. But from there the Wildcats missed their final three field goals, plus two free throws, while turning the ball over three times.
UMKC took its first lead since the game's opening possession on a trey by Lyndsay Leikem with 1:12 remaining that put the visitors ahead by one at 68-67.
Lizzy Dimba then missed a layup but stole the ball back on the 'Roos inbound pass, leading to a foul called on Kiana Law that sent Mason to the free-throw line.
Mason made one of two shots to tie the score a third and final time at 68-68, but with time winding down, Waldron kicked the ball out to Johnson in front of their bench for the game-winning bucket.
ACU followed with a timeout to set up their last possession from half court, and after seeing Mason blanketed at the top of the key, Williamson instead passed the ball into
Lizzy Dimba, whose desperation attempt bounced off the rim.
After a slow start from the field, the 'Roos proved to be deadly from 3-point range by knocking down seven of their final 13 attempts to finish 10-of-20 (.500). They also shot 46.7 percent (7-15) in the third quarter to pull within single digits of the lead, and made 54.5 percent of their buckets (6-11) in the fourth to erase an eight-point deficit.
UMKC was led offensively by Johnson, as she totaled 19 bench points on 7-of-13 shooting with five treys. Waldron scored 18 points in 37 minutes and Leikem knocked down two 3-pointers in finishing with 12.
For the Wildcats, they shot 47.1 percent (24-51) as a team and were led off the bench by both Mason and
Sierra Allen with 13 and 11 points, respectively. Mason made half of her six 3-point attempts and was 4-for-6 at the charity stripe, while Allen was successful on 5-of-7 tries.
Suzzy Dimba reached double figures with 12 points, and
Sydney Shelstead chipped in 11 points to go along with a team-high six rebounds.
The Wildcats are off for much of next week as they take final exams. They'll return to the court next Saturday at 2 p.m. vs. Harding as part of a doubleheader with the men's team, which will be entertaining Northern New Mexico College.
