EL PASO, Texas – Battling the best team left out of the NCAA Tournament on its rowdy, in-your-face and hostile home court, Abilene Christian fought all the way back from a nine-point deficit only to see its fourth-quarter rally against UTEP fall short, 66-62, in a first-round WNIT game played Thursday night at the Don Haskins Center.
The UTEP faithful has a long history of supporting its women's basketball program in the postseason. Tonight was no different as they showed up early and remained crazy loud for all 40 minutes even while watching their team lose its lead to a gutsy Wildcat team that refused to go away quietly.
There were deafening chants of DE-FENSE! and UTEP! UTEP! UTEP! The public address announcer even summoned the crowd into action, and the band simply would not quit blasting their brass and drums in the direction of the ACU bench. And the fans, all of them home from Spring Break, brought out an arsenal distractions.
But despite the total nonsense taking place in the background, the Wildcats crawled their way back into the contest starting late in the third quarter. A pair of free throws by
Sydney Shelstead cut UTEP's lead to four points, and with nine seconds remaining,
Alexis Mason buried a straight-on 3-pointer to make it a 43-41 game entering the fourth quarter.
UTEP responded with a 6-0 run to start the fourth quarter, but the Wildcats pushed back once more with their finest offensive burst of the night.
With the crowd firing on all cylinders by this point, Shelstead kick started an 11-0 run with a layup. Then after a UTEP offensive foul and turnover, Whitney Swinford made it a one-possession game with a 3-pointer that cut the home team's lead to 49-46.
Two more defensive rebounds by
Suzzy Dimba would lead to back-to-back baskets by
Alexis Mason, who gave the Wildcats their first lead of the ball game with 6:46 to go on a jumper in the paint.
"I'm really proud of our team for the way they responded to the atmosphere," said head coach
Julie Goodenough. "This is a great arena, and it's the greatest environment we've played in all year. It started with the pep band and the music and noise, and that gives us something to strive to have at ACU. They have a tremendous home court advantage, and we need that kind of atmosphere at ACU. I thought our players responded really well to it and enjoyed the environment."
ACU extended its lead to as many as three points at 52-49 after Dimba sank a pair of free throws with 5:18 remaining, but soon afterward UTEP returned to doing what it did best during a dominant first quarter – rebounding and creating turnovers.
The Miners used their strength under the glass to get back within a point, and then relied on their stealth at midcourt to retake the lead as Cameasha Turner converted one of her three steals into a fast-break layup.
UTEP wouldn't again relinquish the lead and went ahead by as many as six points down the stretch while the Wildcats struggled once more from the floor. After Mason's go-ahead jumper, ACU was held without a field goal until there were 24 seconds left but hung in there thanks to a handful of free throws.
Senior
Paris Webb hit a 3-pointer to make it a two-point game at 64-62, however, the Wildcats had to foul on the next play and Turner hit her free throws with two seconds left to seal the victory.
Turner finished with 12 points and her team will next play host to Arkansas State Monday night in a second-round WNIT game. The Wildcats, meanwhile, take the long bus ride home to Abilene with plenty of great memories to dwell upon from a season that was one of the best – if not the best – in program history.
"Resiliency is something we talk about a lot, and it showed tonight," said Goodenough. "We've been a great fourth quarter team all season, and during the intermission before the fourth quarter we talked about playing in the fourth quarter the way we've played all season. I can't say enough about how tough we played. That's a really good UTEP team with great guards and huge post players. They're very tough, but I thought we battled them until the end."
All four Wildcat starters scored in double figures led by Dimba's 17-point / 15-rebound double-double. Shelstead and Swinford each finished with 12 points and Mason scored 11 points in the final game of her MVP season.
ACU shot just 27.6 percent from the floor but kept itself in the ball game by hitting 24-of-37 free throws, creating 16 turnovers, and outrebounding the Miners in the second half 27-15 to tie the rebounding battle at 44-44.
Shelstead was a perfect 8-of-8 from the charity stripe and Dimba made nine foul shots on a career high 13 attempts.
UTEP got a game-high 16 points from starting guard Starr Breedlove in addition to Turner's dozen plus 25 points from its eight-woman bench. The Miners shot 44.1 percent for the game and outscored ACU in the paint 44-18 even as they missed half of their 26 free throws and four of five 3-pointers.
ACU went into the break down 30-23 hampered by poor interior shooting but never trailed by more than nine points, as the Wildcats hit 10 of 14 free throws and held the Miners to 43.8 shooting (14-32) while forcing 11 turnovers that led to eight points.
The Wildcats made only 5-of-29 (.231) field goal attempts in the first half and three of those were 3-pointers from Swinford (2) and Mason (1), who was held scoreless until knocking down a trey with 3:32 left in the first half.
Mason's bucket cut UTEP's lead to four, but the Miners responded immediately by making five of their final six field goal attempts. The Wildcats also were beat to the ball on both sides of glass and trailed the rebounding battle at the half, 29-17.
Tonight's defeat marked the end of a season, but should have no lasting effect on what's been built or what's to come. All but the two seniors are expected to return for 2016-17.
Lizzy Dimba will have recovered from injury, and the roster will again be reenergized with freshmen additions of Dominique Golightly, Pam Herrera, Lexi Kirgan and Brea Wright.
The Wildcats additionally made themselves an attractive candidate for non-conference scheduling with significant staying power in the top-20 percent of the RPI, and their nine-consecutive weeks in the CollegeInsider.com Mid Major Top-25 Poll brought considerable attention to a program many had never heard of prior to this season.
ACU basketball lived by the words 'Team First Wins' to win as many games as it did, and by doing so the program established a new benchmark of success from which forthcoming NCAA transition programs will be evaluated.
