NATCHITOCHES, La. – Head coach Julie Goodenough's 100th career win with the Wildcats was nothing short of extraordinary as her team pulled out a last-second victory against Northwestern State Saturday afternoon at Prather Coliseum, winning 76-75 on a pair of Sydney Shelstead free throws with .06 seconds remaining.
A career 73 percent free throw shooter, Shelstead had been struggling from the charity stripe in conference play (.597) this season and so she decided to get in some extra practice upon the team's arrival at the coliseum. Those repetitions during warmups paid off as she went 6-of-7 from the line with the last two coming with raucous fans and the band right in full distraction mode.
But with the supposed ice water flowing through her veins, the Mineral Wells native swished both attempts and the defense got the stop it needed to improve to 18-8 overall and 12-2 against the Southland Conference.
ACU led for the majority of the game, but after the Lady Demons (12-13, 6-8 Southland) caught up late in the third quarter on a 9-1 run, the entire fourth quarter was played at a frenzied pace with the lead changing hands eight times.
Northwestern State grabbed its first lead since the first quarter on a Beatrice Attura 3-pointer with 7:01 remaining and led by as many as four points at the six-minute mark after Cheyenne Brown sank one of her seven field goals.
Then after the Wildcats got to within two points on a pair of Lizzy Dimba free throws, the Lady Demons suffered a huge blow when their starting guard Sami Thomas was injured going up for a layup. Thomas appeared to land wrong, and she laid in pain underneath the Northwestern State goal, Sara Williamson grabbed the defensive rebound away from Tia Youngblood, and pushed the ball up court before passing back to Breanna Wright, who nailed a go-ahead 3-pointer.
Wright's triple gave the Wildcats a short-lived lead with 4:48 to go, but because of the nature of Thomas' injury, both teams had to wait patiently on their benches for the better part of 20 minutes as a crew of certified athletic trainers and family members tended to Thomas.
Northwestern State scored the next two baskets coming out of the extended stoppage in regaining their four-point lead, but then the Wildcats got back-to-back stops and went ahead by a point on another two free throws by Lizzy Dimba with 1:16 to go.
The final minute of basketball was off-the-charts intensified as both teams and their fan bases experienced an array of emotional highs and lows.
First, Suzzy Dimba blocked an Attura 3-pointer, and then the Lady Demons returned the favor as Libba Gillam rejected Lizzy Dimba's layup. Northwestern State would run down some significant clock on their next possession, and Attura would draw a foul with eight seconds left for her fourth and final trip to the free-throw line.
Attura made both shots with ease, leading the Wildcats to call a timeout and advance the ball to in front of their bench. Here Goodenough called a lob pass that worked to perfection as Suzzy Dimba found a wide-open Shelstead under the basket.
But that would not be the end of the game!
With six seconds remaining, the Lady Demons inbounded the ball from their corner and Shahd Abboud kicked it out to Gillam who was fouled by Breanna Wright while attempting a 3-pointer.
Thankfully for the Wildcats, Gillam missed her second of two attempts, and then Attura was called for the foul on Shelstead underneath the basket, leading to the game-winning points.
Each team today made 22-of-25 free throws (.880) as the two sides combined for 47 personal fouls.
Attura was a perfect 8-for-8 from the line in scoring 30 points for the second consecutive game. Brown made all four of her free throws in posting an 18-point / 11-rebound double-double, while Thomas and Gillam combined for 19 points.
ACU had four starters register a double-digit point total led by Shelstead's 18-point / 12-rebound double-double. Lizzy Dimba was second with 17 points. Mason knocked down three treys in finishing with 16 points, and Suzzy Dimba scored 10 points with four blocks.
The Wildcats' regular-season stretch run continues Wednesday with their annual Play 4 Kay Game vs. Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. Tip-off is set for 5:30 p.m. at Moody Coliseum.
