SAN ANTONIO - Abilene Christian women's basketball dismissed its five-point second quarter in brisk fashion with a dominant second half en route to a 75-66 victory at Incarnate Word Thursday night at the McDermott Convocation Center.
The Wildcats have won their last three games behind a second-half rally in improving to 12-7 overall and 6-1 vs. the Southland Conference, tying them with Stephen F. Austin for first place. The loss dropped UIW's records to 5-15 and 3-6.
Senior guard
Alexis Mason scored over 20 points for the third-consecutive game, finishing with 26. Forward
Lizzy Dimba posted her team-best fifth double-double of the season with 16 points and 11 rebounds, while her twin sister, Suzzy, displayed her on-court versatility with 10 points, nine rebounds, four assists and five blocks.
These combined individual efforts helped offset another solid night for UIW's senior forward Celia Garcia Paunero, who totaled 15 rebounds and 18 points on 8-of-20 shooting. The Cardinals additionally received 15 points (7-14) from guard Cheyenne Berry and 12 points / seven rebounds from rookie guard Imani Robinson.
ACU head coach
Julie Goodenough praised the Cardinals for their tenacity.
"Yes, we had some good possessions tonight but I thought they played tougher at times than we did for 40 minutes," she said. "We didn't get many of those 50/50 balls tonight, so hopefully we learned a hard lesson. They made us play until the final buzzer."
The Wildcats entered the break down four points at 36-32, and were fortunate it wasn't more as the Cardinals outscored them in the second quarter, 19-5. UIW started the quarter with a 9-0 run and didn't allow the Wildcats their first basket until
Lizzy Dimba dropped a layup at the 3:03 mark. The Cardinals then made their next two field goals in taking a 32-29 lead, which forced ACU into a timeout.
The Wildcats briefly tied the score at 32-32 following another
Lizzy Dimba trey, but UIW came back with back-to-back buckets by Haley Frias and Melina Merritt.
Turnovers also impaired the Wildcats' second-quarter offense as eleven of UIW's 19 points were scored off seven ACU turnovers. This after the Wildcats recorded only one turnover in the first ten minutes.
ACU appeared to be back on track offensively after the break as the Wildcats equaled their second-quarter output less than two minutes into the half. ACU made its first two field goals to climb to within a point of the lead and then tied the score at 42 following consecutive buckets by
Lizzy Dimba and
Alexis Mason.
The Mason basket forced UIW into a timeout at the 5:41 mark, and the stoppage certainly didn't help the Cardinals as they missed their next four field goal attempts. Meanwhile, the Wildcats received four points from
Lizzy Dimba and five from
Suzzy Dimba during this stretch as she followed a fast-break layup with a 3-pointer that made it a 52-44 game at 3:12 of the third quarter.
ACU would get one more trey from
Breanna Wright to maintain its eight-point lead at 55-47 and then the two sides exchanged a pair of free throws to conclude the third quarter.
The Wildcats committed zero turnovers in the third quarter to flip a four-point deficit into an eight-point lead. They then had two miscues during the final ten minutes, one of which was on an offensive foul.
"I'm proud of the way we took care of the ball in the second half," said Goodenough. "We also we're good at rebounding down the stretch, especially Sydney on the offensive glass. That's an area where we definitely need to be intentional and we did well there tonight."
ACU outscored UIW in second-chance points, 16-6, and held a 48-37 advantage in rebounds.
The Cardinals got as close as four points during the final quarter, but after two free throws by Robinson made it a 61-57 game, Shelstead hit one of her four field goals.
Suzzy Dimba then blocked a shot out of bounds, and on the ensuing possession Mason drilled her fifth trey of the night in pushing the Wildcats' lead to 66-57.
Sierra Allen, who was a perfect 3-of-3 from the floor tonight in scoring seven fourth-quarter points, gave ACU its first double-digit lead (71-61) since the first half with her triple at the 2:30 mark, and from there the Wildcats hit four of their final eight free throw attempts while getting five defensive stops.
"Those stops in the third and fourth quarter were a deciding factor in this ball game," said Goodenough. "UIW would not throw in the towel. They just kept pushing and throwing up shots."
UIW was held to 39.7 percent shooting (25-63). ACU shot 36.4 percent (24-66) for the game and was at its best in the third quarter where the Wildcats made 8-of-17 field goal attempts, including four 3-pointers.
The Wildcats return to action Saturday for a 2 p.m. home game vs. McNeese. The Cowgirls lost 71-59 vs. New Orleans tonight and will come to Abilene with records of 10-9 and 5-3.
ACU has won its last two games vs. McNeese and leads the all-time series, 2-1.
