HAMMOND, La. –
Sydney Shelstead came within one point of her career-high and
Lizzy Dimba came up with her second double-double of the season Saturday afternoon as the defending Southland Conference regular-season champion ACU Wildcats began defense of their crown with a relatively easy 82-57 win over Southeastern Louisiana at the University Center.
The Wildcats cruised through Southland Conference play last season en route to posting a 17-1 record as they won the league's regular-season championship and earned a bid to the Women's Post-Season NIT. ACU showed no signs of letting up on the rest of the league in Saturday's blowout win as they won their second straight overall and won for the 24
th time in their last 27 league games dating back to the end of the 2014-15 season.
ACU is now 7-6 overall and 1-0 in the league, while the Lady Lions fall to 2-10 and 0-1. ACU is back in action Tuesday at 7 p.m. when it hosts New Orleans in another Southland Conference contest in Moody Coliseum on the ACU campus.
The Wildcats dominated in every phase Saturday afternoon, out-shooting the Lady Lions from the field (47.4 percent to just 34.5 percent for Southeastern), out-rebounding the Lady Lions (48-24), and hitting 23 of 37 free throws compared to just 12 of 16 for Southeastern.
ACU never trailed in the contest behind the trio of Shelstead, who scored a season-high 26 points, which left her one point from tying her career-high of 27 points set on Feb. 25, 2015, in a win over Houston Baptist. She also pulled down nine rebounds, finishing one rebound short of her third double-double of the season and 22
nd of her career.
Lizzy Dimba had 13 points on 4 of 10 shooting from the floor and 13 rebounds (six offensive boards) to go along with one assist, one block and one steal in 26 minutes on the floor. For Dimba, it was the 12
th double-double of her career.
Suzzy Dimba finished with 19 points on 7 of 12 shooting from the floor, including 3 of 5 from 3-point range. Her 19 points marked the seventh time this season and 65
th time in her career that she has scored in double figures, tying her with senior guard
Alexis Mason for the most double-figure scoring games by an active ACU player She also had seven rebounds, four assists, three blocks and one steal in 30 minutes.
The Wildcats dominated the game from the outset as they jumped out to a 12-2 lead behind eight points from
Suzzy Dimba and never looked back in cruising to the victory. ACU lead 27-11 at the end of the first quarter behind 10 points from both
Suzzy Dimba and Shelstead and then played one of the stranger second quarters one will ever see.
ACU hit just 1 of 5 shots from the field, but was 10 of 14 from the free throw line for its 12 second-quarter points. After being whistled for 10 personal fouls in the first quarter – sending ACU to the free throw line eight times – the Lady Lions were hit with 10 more fouls and the Wildcats went back to the line 14 more times in the second 10 minute-period quarter.
Shelstead was 5 for 8 from the line in the quarter and
Alexis Mason – who had just four points in the first half – had ACU's only second-quarter field goal on a jumper in the lane with 28 seconds left in the opening 20 minutes.
ACU's lead was as much as 28 points on a couple of occasions in the second half, and they were able to pull away again from Southeastern after the Lady Lions pulled to within 16 in the fourth quarter.
Mason finished with nine points, while
Breanna Wright had six points, five assists and one steal.
