NACOGDOCHES, Texas - Abilene Christian women's basketball shot 53 percent in the second half and buried half of its 24 3-point attempts in defeating Stephen F. Austin, 80-73, Thursday night at Johnson Coliseum.
The victory lifts ACU (17-8) into sole possession of second place in the Southland Conference at 11-2, while the Ladyjacks slipped to 19-5 and 10-3. Central Arkansas leads the conference with a 12-2 record.
There weren't many extended runs in a game that featured 10 tie scores and 17 lead changes, but two offensive outbursts late in the third and fourth quarters helped the Wildcats win their second straight game at SFA.
With the Ladyjacks ahead 45-44 late in the third, the Wildcats took off on a 10-run that ran straight into the fourth quarter. An Alexis Mason trey at the buzzer put ACU ahead 51-45, and Lizzy Dimba gave the Wildcats their largest lead of the game at nine points, 54-45, after hitting a triple as the shot clock was winding down.
Mason totaled a team high 26 points with a single-game career high eight 3-pointers, and both Lizzy and Suzzy Dimba chipped in 19 points with a combined 17 rebounds. Mason's eight triples also tied a school record held by three former Wildcats: Renata Marquez, Alex Guiton and Ashley King.
"This was a great game," said head coach Julie Goodenough. "Both teams played hard, played with purpose and we were fortunate to come in here and get the win … We were led by our great seniors, and Alexis hitting that shot at the end of the third just shows you the urgency she plays with. Suzzy too did a great job in guarding (Brentney) Branch (five points) – she didn't hit many shots (2-10) because Suzzy was wearing her out."
The nine-point, fourth-quarter deficit meant little to the Ladyjacks as they would soon chop their way back into the contest – and fast. Stevi Parker, who led all scorers tonight with 31 points and 18 rebounds, jolted the crowd back to life with five points scored in 12 seconds, and Adrienne Lewis made it a one possession game with her layup at the 8:47 mark following an offensive foul by Suzzy Dimba.
A couple of Kennedy Harris baskets brought the lead back to SFA for the first time since the midpoint of the third quarter. Harris' free throws with 7:41 to go tied the score at 54-54, and her layup at 6:30 gave her side a 58-57 lead.
The teams were tied twice more at 60-60 and 62-62 heading into the media timeout, and coming out of the stoppage, Lewis made one of two free throws to put SFA back ahead at 63-62.
From there it was all Wildcats on both offense and defense as the visitors took off on a game-changing 8-0 run. A Suzzy Dimba fast-break layup following a SFA miss gave ACU the lead for good at 64-63, and she then added a couple of free throws which bookended a layup by Sara Williamson at the 2:37 mark. Defensively during this run, ACU forced four missed shots and came down with the rebound each time.
The Wildcats outrebounded the Ladyjacks, 34-33.
SFA would keep pressing during the last two minutes, but could get no closer than five points as the Wildcats continually answered with a bucket of their own. The dagger shot was a 3-pointer by Suzzy Dimba that made it a 75-67 game with :46 seconds left. ACU then made five of their last six free throws.
The Wildcats increased their quarter-by-quarter point total as the game rolled on, and ended up with 49 points in the second half on the strength of eight three pointers. The Wildcats also made nine of their 12 free throws in the fourth quarter and received nine points from their bench, while the SFA reserves contributed only two.
SFA posted a 41.7 field goal percentage (25-60) and displayed exceptional skill at the free-throw line, from where the Ladyjacks knocked down 17-of-19 attempts (.895). In addition to Parker's stellar night, SFA additionally received 20 points from Taylor Ross and nine from Adrienne Lewis.
Early on ACU was forced to battle back from a 10-point deficit at the 6:39 mark of the first quarter to tie the score at 13-13 thanks to a significant Ladyjack scoring drought that lasted the better part of six minutes.
The Wildcats scored on their first two possessions of the second quarter in grabbing their first lead at 17-13 lead, but the home team bounced right back to drop in 13 points during a five-minute window to retake the lead at 28-25. After that, however, the Ladyjacks would make only one of their last four field goals and turned the ball over twice, leading to a mini Wildcat run.
ACU got to within a point of the lead at 28-27 on a Suzzy Dimba layup and briefly grabbed the lead on a bucket by Lizzy Dimba with 1:28 remaining. SFA then converted a 3-point play from Parker to go ahead 31-29, but the Wildcats scored on their final possession with Suzzy Dimba banking in a layup with 22 ticks until the half.
"We're going to enjoy this win tonight" said Goodenough. "We're now in control of our own destiny, but we have another quality opponent coming up in Northwestern State, and I'm sure they'll want to take their frustrations out on us after we beat them last week."
The Wildcats face Northwestern State Saturday at 1 p.m. at Prather Coliseum. ACU defeated the Lady Demons at home last week, 79-57.
