WNIT Second Round | March 20, 2017 | Moody Coliseum | Dallas, Texas
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ABILENE – Abilene Christian women's basketball squares off against SMU for the first time in 34 seasons Monday night at 7 p.m. for at second-round WNIT game at the Mustangs' Moody Coliseum.
SMU reached this game as a result of its 75-70 overtime victory vs. Louisiana Tech Friday night during which the Mustangs rallied back from a 14-point deficit in the second half. ACU also had to pull off a comeback of its own Thursday at Oklahoma State, battling back from a 13-3 first-quarter deficit to shock the Cowgirls and the 1,423 fans at Gallagher-Iba Arena, 66-56.
ACU grabbed its first lead at Oklahoma State on its final bucket of the first quarter, 16-15, and never trailed again, giving the Southland Conference its first victory in the Women's NIT since 2008. It also marked the first time a Southland school has beaten a team from one of the power five conferences in the WNIT since 1995. In fact, no Southland school has made it past the second round of the WNIT since 1995.
All five starters for ACU scored in double figures for the first time all season led by
Lizzy Dimba's 14 points, while
Breanna Wright sank a career single-game high three 3-pointers and registered her fourth complete game of the year. OSU attempted an opponent season low nine free-throw attempts (7-9, .778) and was held to 17.6 3-point field-goal percentage as the Cowgirls missed 14 of 17 attempts.
SMU and ACU are meeting for the sixth time in their respective histories and for the first time since the 1983-84 season. ACU leads the all-time series, 3-2, as the two sides regularly played between the mid 1970's and early 1980's. The Wildcats, overall, are fairly inexperienced playing against the geographically diverse American Athletic Conference, having only played against Temple (1984) and Tulsa (2013) just once previously.
ACU fans interested in attending Monday's game can buy tickets
here or email
athletics@acu.edu to reserve a bus and game ticket, the cost of which is $25 per person. Each fan will be responsible for his or her own meals, concession stand purchases, etc.
Fans who wish to ride the bus need to meet at ACU's Moody Coliseum at 1 p.m. Monday and make their purchase at the ticket window on the north side of the coliseum. Purchases can be made with cash, check or credit card. The bus / buses will return to the ACU campus shortly after the game ends in Dallas.
The winner of Monday's game moves on to a third-round matchup against Indiana, which is slated for Thursday, March 23 at Assembly Hall.
