Women's Basketball | 2/9/2016 9:40:00 PM
Game Notes | Play4Kay.org | GoFundMe.com page for Sue Williamson Live Stats | Video | Audio ABILENE – For the 500th ACU women's game played at Moody Coliseum, the Abilene Christian women's basketball team will rally around Sue Williamson – the mother of freshman Sara – during a pregame ceremony on
Play 4Kay night Wednesday as she continues her fight against cancer.
Tip time for the game, which is a rematch between the Wildcats and Sam Houston State (8-13, 4-7 Southland), is 7 p.m. The first 200 fans in attendance will receive a free pink t-shirt.
The Wildcats have played host to a
Play 4Kay game for several years to raise awareness and funding for women's cancer research, but this time the Wildcats' efforts are directed toward helping the Williamson family. Earlier this month the ACU Department of Athletics established a
GoFundMe.com page to raise $10,000 by the end of February with all donations going to cover Williamson's medical expenses related to her cancer treatments.
Williamson's GoFundMe.com page can be found at
www.gofundme.com/acu4sue.
This past week has seemingly been more eventful than others for the Wildcats (19-3, 10-1 Southland), who remain atop the Southland Conference standings by a half game over Central Arkansas despite seeing their winning streak end at 14-games following a 63-54 loss last Thursday at Lamar.
The Cardinals rebounded from their 28-point defeat vs. ACU just five days earlier by forcing the Wildcats into a season high 25 turnovers at the Montagne Center and holding them to 26.2 percent shooting from the floor (16-of-61). Junior guard
Alexis Mason scored a career high 30 points in the defeat but two of ACU's starting five were shut out of the scoring column as the two teams combined to miss 94 shots.
ACU's shooting woes did not last long as less than 48 hours later the Wildcats returned to form with a convincing 88-72 win at Southeastern Louisiana.
Lizzy Dimba set several career highs in the victory, including 23 points, six assists, five steals and 13 free throws on 17 attempts.
Both Lizzy and
Suzzy Dimba registered a double-double vs. the Lady Lions and all five starters reached double figures in scoring. Lizzy had 11 rebounds to go with her 23 points, while Suzzy had 12 points and 11 rebounds. Guards Mason and
Whitney West Swinford had 19 and 17 points, respectively, while forward
Sydney Shelstead chipped in a dozen as the Wildcats improved to 4-1 all-time vs. Southeastern.
Following the 10-hour bus ride home from Hammond, La., ACU regrouped Monday to hold an
introductory Draft Day press conference for 14-year-old Albany, Texas, native
Hannah Snyder, who was introduced to the Wildcats last fall through
Team IMPACT.
Team IMPACT is non-profit whose mission is to improve the quality of life for children facing life-threatening and chronic illnesses through the power of team. Team IMPACT children are drafted onto college athletic teams, local to where they live, and to the greatest extent possible, become a member of the team from Draft Day through to Graduation.
Snyder has been suffering from various ailments since birth, including epilepsy and cerebral palsy. But in front of more than a 100 supporters, the Albany Junior High School student happily signed on to join the Wildcats' with help from her mom, dad and younger brother all sitting at her side.
Snyder was presented with an official No. 42 Wildcats' jersey at the conclusion of the event before taking photos with her family, friends and new teammates.
As for Wednesday night's rematch between the Wildcats and Bearkats, Sam Houston State hopes it can take a page out of Lamar's playbook and avenge its earlier-season loss to the Wildcats, 87-76, three weeks ago at Bernard G. Johnson Coliseum.
The Wildcats registered 50 second-half points in Huntsville led by
Suzzy Dimba's season-high 22 points. The Lubbock, native, made a career-best four 3-point field goals for the fourth time in her career in addition to compiling seven rebounds, six steals and two blocks.
Mason tied her career high and a team season high with seven assists on a night in which ACU tied a team season high with 25. She also had personal best four steals as the Wildcats outscored the Bearkats 28-13 in points off turnovers.
Sam Houston's 76 points tied Kansas State for most points scored against the Wildcats this season. Center Angela Beadle recorded opponent single-game highs with 17 rebounds and eight blocks in front of her home crowd, and she and her teammates will look to win their second straight game at Moody Coliseum as last year they overcame a late deficit to beat the Wildcats, 63-58.
ACU is undefeated at home this season at 9-0 and its 12-game home winning streak is currently tied for 10th (Army, James Madison, UTEP, Ohio State) among all NCAA DI schools.
