ABILENE — ACU senior guard
Alexis Mason picked a great time to play her best game of the season as the reigning Southland Conference Player of the Year had a career day to lead the Wildcats to one of their most important wins of the season.
Mason scored a career-high 32 points and set ACU's all-time record for 3-pointers made in a career to lead ACU to a 77-59 win over a Lamar team that entered the game tied for the league lead and winners of 10 straight games.
The win pushes the Wildcats to 10-7 overall and 4-1 in the league and keeps them no worse than one game out of first place in the league as they attempt to win back-to-back league championships. Lamar is now 11-4 and 4-1. ACU will be back in action next Wednesday at Nicholls.
Mason hit 10 of 17 shots from the floor (6 of 12 from 3-point range) and hit all six of her free throws in her third straight double-figure performance. She had 10 points in the first half, which ended with Lamar leading 36-35 behind 12 points apiece from the Lamar duo of Kiandra Bowers inside and Chastadie Barrs outside.
But the Wildcats turned the game in their favor for good with a dominating third quarter. ACU outscored the Cardinals 23-6 in the 10-minute quarter, quite possibly the best quarter of the season for the Wildcats. Mason had 12 points in the quarter as she hit 2 of 3 from 3-point range, grabbed two rebounds and had one assist as the Wildcats finished the quarter with a 58-42 lead.
Mason became ACU's all-time leader in career 3-pointers when she buried a 3-pointer at the 5:44 mark of the third quarter, giving her team a 45-38 lead and giving her 240 career 3-pointers, surpassing the old record of 239, which was held by Ashley King (2002-06). Mason — who also holds ACU's career record for 3-point attempts — ended the game with 242 career 3-pointers.
ACU hit 8 of 15 shots from the field in the quarter (53.3 percent), while the Cardinals were just 2 of 18 (11.1 percent) and had a streak of 13 straight misses from the field that allowed the Wildcats to pull out to 16-point lead at the end of the quarter.
The Wildcats' largest lead in the game was 23 points (77-54) with 1:44 left in the contest.
ACU senior forward
Lizzy Dimba finished with 13 points, and her first basket of the game — a 3-pointer with 6:35 left in the opening quarter — gave her 1,002 career points. All four ACU seniors — Mason,
Lizzy Dimba,
Suzzy Dimba and
Sydney Shelstead — have all surpassed 1,000 career points.
For
Lizzy Dimba, her 13-point effort marked her 54th career game in double figures, while for Mason it gives her 68 career double-figure games.
Suzzy Dimba finished with her 32nd career double-double (12 points and 11 rebounds), which gives her 69 career games with double figures in points.
