Women's Basketball | 1/2/2017 12:26:00 PM
ACU vs. New Orleans: Live Stats | Video | Audio (98.1 FM – The Ticket) | Game Notes
ABILENE - Abilene Christian women's basketball begins its longest homestand of the season Tuesday with a 7 p.m. game against its Southland Conference rivals from New Orleans. The Wildcats are 5-1 at home this season and have won their last 12 league games at Moody Coliseum.
Live stats will be offered for the game as will a video stream. The game also can be heard locally on 98.1 FM – The Ticket with Grant Boone handling the play-by-play.
Tuesday marks the fourth all-time meeting between Abilene Christian and New Orleans, a series which the Wildcats lead 2-1. ACU beat the Privateers, 88-44, in their first ever Southland Conference game in 2014. UNO then beat ACU the following year in New Orleans, 71-50, and lost 80-70 at Moody Coliseum late last season.
The Wildcats (7-6, 1-0 Southland) lifted their all-time record within the Southland Conference to 35-16 (.686) following their 82-57 win at Southeastern Louisiana on Saturday. ACU hasn't lost in Hammond, La. since becoming members of the Southland Conference, winning by scores of 96-82, 83-65 and 82-57, and leads its all-time series vs. the Lady Lions, 6-1.
The game featured several team season highs for ACU, including 37 free-throw attempts and seven blocks. ACU's seven blocks were its most in a single game since stuffing eight shots vs. New Orleans in February of last year, and Southeastern's 32 personal fouls, which were the most by an opponent since West Texas A&M hacked the Wildcats 34 times December of 2011. The Wildcats are accustomed to frequent trips to the free-throw line vs. Southeastern. During both of last seasons games vs. the Lady Lions, the Wildcats went to the free throw line 74 times on 51 personal fouls, including a season-high 41 times in their game on Feb. 6, 2016.
On the other side of the court, ACU limited the Lady Lions to an opponent season low 24 rebounds as Southeastern only pulled down 14 boards off the defensive glass. This rebound total was the lowest by any Wildcat opponent since Northwestern State was held to 20 rebounds during last year's game on Jan. 7, 2016.
Individual highlights included Sydney Shelstead finishing a point shy of her career high with 26 points, while Lizzy Dimba recorded a 13-point/13-rebound double-double. Suzzy Dimba moved into ninth place on the all-time ACU rebounder's list with seven, lifting her career total to 828 and Breanna Wright had her third game with five assists.
Dimba passed Jody Meyer for ninth place on the all-time rebounder list at Southeastern and she currently sits 66 rebounds behind Aukse Steponaviciute (894) for eighth place. The school record of 1,194 rebounds is held by Teresa Rubart (1973-77).
More importantly, ACU's win vs. the Lady Lions snapped a six-game road losing streak, which dated back to last season's WNIT defeat at UTEP. This road skid was the program's longest since 2001. That year the Wildcats ended the 2000-01 season on a three-game road losing streak and started the next season losing their first three on the road.
The Privateers come to ACU with a 6-5 record after winning their Southland Conference season opener over Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, 75-54, at Lakefront Arena. Junior Randi Brown scored 45 points vs. the Islanders in 37 minutes on 16-28 shooting (9-18 3FG) to lift her season scoring average to 21.9 points per game.
