ACU at Sam Houston State:
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ABILENE - It's oft been said that, 'it's not who you play, but when you play them', and right now the Sam Houston Bearkats appear to savoring their role as spoiler while trying to climb into the Southland Conference Championship picture.
The Bearkats (3-22, 3-12 Southland) lost their first 17 games this season, but have since won three of their last four home games at Johnson Coliseum – including a 92-73 thrashing of Northwestern State Thursday – and will next play host to the Abilene Christian Wildcats for a 4 p.m. game on ESPN3. The Wildcats, meanwhile, are still a half game back of the league-leading Central Arkansas Sugar Bears (14-2) and only one game ahead of Stephen F. Austin and Lamar (12-3).
Sam Houston's win kept them mathematically alive for the postseason with three games left to play as the Bearkats enter this weekend two wins behind 5-10 Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and Nicholls.
ACU defeated the Islanders Wednesday at Moody Coliseum, 72-64, to sweep their two-game season series.
Suzzy Dimba recorded a 13-point / 13-rebound double-double and played all 40 minutes without picking up a personal foul while her twin sister, Lizzy, totaled a game-high 21 points on 8-13 shooting.
Alexis Mason totaled 19 points with five 3-pointers, and
Dominique Golightly came off the bench to score 11 points in 22 minutes.
The Wildcats leads their all-time series vs. the Bearkats 11-6 and are 5-1 against them since joining the Southland Conference in 2013-14 with the lone loss coming at Moody Coliseum during the 2014-15 season. ACU also has won the last four games in the series, including 78-56 decision earlier this year on Feb. 4
In that game, ACU limited Sam Houston to an opponent season low of 20 points in the first half, and all four seniors reached double figures in scoring.
Sydney Shelstead posted a 12-point/12-rebound double-double,
Lizzy Dimba and Mason each had 16 points, and
Suzzy Dimba was right behind them with 15 points. The Wildcats also assisted on 23 of 26 field goals (88 percent), led by sophomore
Sara Williamson with seven and freshman
Breanna Wright with four.
Five Bearkats hit double-figures in their 92-73 rout of Northwestern State. The win was the third in four tries at home for Sam Houston State, which shot an impressive 62 percent on the night. Jasmine McCants posted 22 points, leading Sam Houston to a season-high in points – 14 more than its previous best. Joining McCants was Jenniffer Oramas (18), Morghen Day (13), Ashleigh Cooper (12) and Kiera McKinney (10).
