ABILENE – The ACU Wildcats unveiled a load of new faces Friday night in the season-opener, but the results looked much the same as they have the last three seasons as they rolled to a 91-47 win over the University of the Southwest in front of a boisterous Moody Coliseum crowd.
Only one starter (point guard Breanna Wright) returned from last year's team, but that hardly seemed to matter against Southwest as the Wildcats never trailed and thoroughly dominated the Mustangs. ACU limited Southwest to just 31 percent shooting from the field (17 of 55), including 11 percent from 3-point range (2 of 19).
ACU, meanwhile, hit 40 percent of its shots (35 of 88), including 30 percent from 3-point range (11 of 37) as every Wildcat either scored or grabbed a rebound.
Wright – who wasn't asked to be a scorer last season with seniors Suzzy and Lizza Dimba,
Alexis Mason and
Sydney Shelstead joining here in the starting lineup – will be asked to score more in 2017-18, and she did Friday night, pouring in a career-high 15 points on 6 of 12 shooting from the field.
Returning sophomore forward Dominique Golightly recorded her first career double-doubled with 11 points and 11 rebounds in 26 minutes. And sophomore post Lexi Kirgan scored a career-high 11 points and pulled down a career-best nine rebounds in just 22 minutes.
Otherwise it was the Wildcats' newcomers who impressed as Josie Larson scored 12 points with all of them coming from behind the 3-point line as she hit 4 of 8 shots from long range. Makayla Mabry scored 10 points and pulled down nine rebounds and Laura Rowe had nine points in just seven minutes. And fireplug point guard Kayla Galindo buried a 3-pointer near the end of the game for her only points, but had already dished out six assists in just 10 minutes by the time she hit the triple.
ACU (1-0) will be back on the floor Monday at 7 p.m. when it hosts Schreiner.
