ABILENE — Just when it appeared as though the ACU Wildcats might in a bit of trouble Wednesday night against a highly motivated team from Texas A&M-Corpus Christi playing to keep its post-season hopes alive, a familiar face rode to the rescue just as she's done countless times over the last four years to lead her team to a 72-64 win over the Islanders.
The win keeps ACU's hopes for a second straight Southland Conference regular season championship alive as the Wildcats improved to 19-8 overall and 13-2 in the league. They remain one-half game behind Central Arkansas (14-2), which beat Southeastern Louisiana earlier Wednesday night. The Sugar Bears will be home Saturday in a huge contest against Stephen F. Austin before closing out the regular season at Northwestern State on Saturday, March 4.
If the Wildcats can win out and the Sugar Bears lose one of their final two contests, ACU will win its second straight regular-season title.
That scenario was in a bit of jeopardy for most of the fourth quarter Wednesday night as the Islanders — sitting in ninth place in the league but in the No. 7 seed for the tournament because both ACU and Incarnate Word are ahead of them but ineligible for the tournament because of NCAA transition – tied the game at 55-55 with 5:31 to play, eliminating what once was an 11-point ACU lead.
But with the game tied, senior guard
Alexis Mason buried back-to-back 3-pointers at the 5:14 and 3:40 marks to give the Wildcats a 61-55 lead. After Corpus Christi scored three straight, freshman
Dominique Golightly hit a critical 3-pointer to give ACU a 64-58 lead.
As Corpus Christi was bringing the ball back down the floor, head coach Royce Chadwick was whistled for a technical foul. Mason hit both free throws with 2:09 to play to give ACU a 66-58 lead. The ACU advantage would not dip below six points the rest of the way as the senior class of Mason,
Lizzy Dimba,
Suzzy Dimba and
Sydney Shelstead improved to 80-36 in their ACU careers.
Early on it was
Lizzy Dimba who led the way as she scored 14 points and pulled down three rebounds in 14 first-half minutes.
Suzzy Dimba only scored four points in the first half, but she grabbed seven rebounds and had one assist and one steal in 20 minutes.
The Wildcats trailed 15-14 at the end of the first quarter, but outscored the Islanders 24-14 in the second quarter to take a 38-29 lead into halftime. The Islanders answered, however, by outscoring ACU 18-11 in the third quarter to cut ACU's lead to 49-47 at the end of the third quarter.
Suzzy Dimba finished with 13 points and 13 rebounds – her 33rd career double-double – in 40 minutes.
Lizzy Dimba led all scorers with 21 points, while Mason had 19 on 6 of 18 shooting (5 of 14 from 3-point range) and Golightly 11.
ACU (19-8 overall and 13-2 in the league) is back in action Saturday in Huntsville for a 4 p.m. game against Sam Houston State in Johnson Coliseum. The game will be broadcast on 98.1 FM and on ESPN3.
