ACU at Oklahoma State | First Round WNIT Game | March 17, 2017 | Gallagher-Iba Arena
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ABILENE – The Abilene Christian women's basketball team Monday night learned that its first-round opponent in the 2017
Postseason WNIT will be Oklahoma State, where the Wildcats'
Julie Goodenough once served as head coach from 2002-05.
The Wildcats and Cowgirls are scheduled to tip off from historic Gallagher-Iba Arena on Thursday, March 16 at 7 p.m. The game will air on 98.1 FM – The Ticket with the winner to face either SMU or Louisiana Tech.
Goodenough coached the Cowgirls for three seasons and was hired there after guiding the Cowgirls of Hardin-Simmons University to a 188-54 record over nine seasons. She left HSU as the winningest coach in school history with her last four teams advancing to at least the NCAA Division III Sweet 16.
Following her stint in Stillwater, Goodenough helped rebuild the program at Charleston Southern from 2006-12 and twice took the Buccaneers into the WBI. She then came home to West Texas and ACU, which has qualified for back-to-back WNIT Tournaments behind two Southland Conference Championships and an overall record of 104-43 (.707).
ACU and Oklahoma State have yet to meet on the hardwood, but the Wildcats are no strangers to Big 12 opposition and have played the likes of Baylor, K-State, TCU and Texas Tech since joining the Southland Conference in 2013-14. The Bears were one of three Power 5 Conference teams on ACU's 2016-17 schedule along with Missouri and Texas A&M – all three of these schools qualified for the NCAA Championship.
The Wildcats emerged from its rough non-conference schedule with a 6-6 record and later defeated every Southland Conference team at least once en route to posting a 16-2 record. ACU played one of the toughest slate's in the league, going 5-2 against the four tournament semifinalists: Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (2-0), Lamar (1-0), Stephen F. Austin (1-1) and Central Arkansas (1-1).
After falling to the Sugar Bears, 80-70, in their rematch on Feb. 8, the Wildcats took off on a season-ending seven-game winning streak that featured a comeback win at SFA (80-73) and nail-biting finish at Northwestern State (75-74), during which the lead changed hands four times in the final eight seconds. From there the Wildcats walloped opposition from Corpus Christi, Sam Houston State, Incarnate Word and Houston Baptist to keep pace with UCA for first place.
ACU entered the 2016-17 campaign as the Southland's preseason favorite with four returning senior starters, three of who were honored as all-conference selections earlier this month. Forward
Suzzy Dimba earned her first First Team All-Southland Conference citation and was voted onto the all-defensive team for the fourth-consecutive season – becoming the first Southland player ever to accomplish this feat. Her twin sister,
Lizzy Dimba, received third team honors, and last season's Player of the Year
Alexis Mason was voted onto the second team.
This same core group of Wildcats took ACU to its first Postseason WNIT last March, but couldn't escape the first round as a late fourth-quarter push by UTEP propelled the Miners to a 66-62 victory. UTEP led by as many as nine points in the first quarter only to see the Wildcats come all the way back in the second half and take a 3-point lead with 5:18 to go. The Miners, however, would make the next four field goals and hit several free throws down the stretch to seal the victory.
Even in defeat, ACU's performance impressed the WNIT organizers enough to earn one of only 16 invitations to the Preseason WNIT this past November. The Wildcats, who were shorthanded without an injured Mason, lost 52-46 at No. 24 Missouri in the opening-round game, but then came home the following weekend to beat Preseason WNIT participants Omaha (73-66) and UTRGV (70-54).
Oklahoma State enters Thursday's game with a record of 17-14 (6-12) and earned a spot in the field as the Big 12 Conference's automatic qualifier. The Cowgirls are led in scoring and rebounding by Kaylee Jensen, who is averaging 18.5 points and 10.6 rebounds per game.
