CORPUS CHRISTI - All four Abilene Christian seniors reached double figures in scoring led by Alexis Mason's 19 points and the Wildcats overcame an 11-point first-quarter deficit to beat Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, 72-59, Wednesday night at the American Bank Center.
ACU shot 50 percent (25-50) for the fifth time this season in improving to 14-7 overall and 8-1 vs. the Southland Conference. The Wildcats' winning streak is now at five games, and the victory tied head coach Julie Goodenough with Wayne Williams for the fourth-most wins in program history with 96.
Williams (96-70) coached the Wildcats between 1997-2003.
The loss dropped the Islanders' overall and conference records to 8-13 and 4-6. They were led in scoring by Kassie Jones with 18 points and received a 10-point / 10-rebound effort from Ashanti Plummer, but their leading scorer Brittany Mbamalu (10.2 ppg) was limited to just three points on 1-of-8 shooting.
The Wildcats' slow start offensively (3-10) in the first quarter was coupled with a 14-4 rebounding disadvantage, which led to eight second-chance points for the Islanders. ACU made its last field goal of the quarter at the 3:53 mark on a jumper by Sierra Allen that made it an 8-7 game, and then Corpus took off on a 11-1 run that gave them a 19-8 lead at the end of 10 minutes.
The rest of the game, however, would belong to the Wildcats as they outscored the Islanders, 64-40, over the final three quarters. ACU scored 24 points in the second quarter, starting with Suzzy Dimba's first career four-point play on the opening possession. Dimba nailed the trey from the corner near the Islanders' bench and dropped in the free throw to make it a seven-point game.
Plummer would hit a layup immediately afterward, but from there the Wildcats would score on their next three possessions to make it a two-point game. Mason hit one of her four 3-pointers with 8:35 left in the half to cut Corpus Christi's lead to 21-17 and then Suzzy Dimba sank a layup to force the Islanders into a timeout at the 7:30 mark.
Minutes later the Wildcats would complete their comeback after Breanna Wright hit her second 3-pointer of the quarter that tied the score at 29-29. A Sydney Shelstead layup put the Wildcats ahead by two with 2:12 to go. Suzzy Dimba would then hit a free throw, and on their final possession the Islanders missed a buzzer beater when Camesha Davis' layup was pinned between the glass and rim.
Corpus Christi would go on to tie the score twice in the early stages of the third quarter on baskets by Jones, but after she sank a pair of free throws at the 6:38 mark the Wildcats broke the game open with a 16-4 run in which their defense held the Islanders' to 0-of-4 shooting with three forced turnovers.
The ACU seniors really took over during this stretch. Suzzy Dimba scored four points and recorded two steals. Shelstead had a layup in addition to two defensive rebounds, and both Mason and Lizzy Dimba totaled five points on a pair of layups and 3-pointers.
The Wildcats continued to shoot well throughout the fourth quarter, sinking six of 12 field goals with two treys and seven free throws. They reached their largest lead of the night at 21 points following a Mason 3-pointer at the 2:44 mark. Mason's 19 points lifted her career total to 1,474, which ranks her 10th on ACU's all-time career scoring list, surpassing Caroline Omamo (1,461). Alex Guiton ranks ninth with 1,485 points.
Wright finished with nine points on 3-of-4 shooting from the 3-point line, and her final trey at the 4:07 mark gave ACU a 64-46 lead right after the Islanders made back-to-back layups within a 30-second window.
ACU shot 45 percent overall from the 3-point arc, making 9 of 20 attempts, while holding the Islanders to a 25 percent success rate (3-12).
The Wildcats return to action Saturday, Feb. 4 for a Sam Houston State doubleheader at 2 p.m.
