ABILENE – A 3-pointer at the shot-clock buzzer followed by consecutive layups within a 52-second span late in the fourth quarter helped Abilene Christian women's basketball earn a 61-59 victory over the Islanders of Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Wednesday night at Moody Coliseum.
The win gives ACU overall and league records of 13-6 and 7-2 at the halfway point of the Southland season, while the Islanders fell to 10-8 and 3-4.
The Wildcats led by as many as 10 points, but the Islanders slowly worked their way back and trailed only by a point (51-50) after Brittany Mbamalu buried a 3-pointer at the 3:05 mark. Two possessions later, the Wildcats had the ball under their basket with one second on the shot clock following a deflection and
Sara Williamson dropped in a perfectly placed pass to
Dominique Golightly, who promptly launched a 3-pointer from the top of the key that banked in off the glass.
ACU then drew an offensive foul, which resulted in a Williamson layup, and Golightly finished off a pass from Wright to make it an 58-50 game with 1:08 remaining.
The Wildcats scored their final three points from the free-throw line as freshman
Kayla Galindo sank two with 14 seconds left to put the home team up by six (61-55). Corpus Christi then missed two shots on its next possession, but a couple of offensive rebounds eventually resulted in two free throws from Uri Jolivette. And as ACU attempted to run out the clock near halfcourt, a steal by Laderica Paul resulted in a last-second layup by Dae Dae Evans.
Evans led all scorers tonight with 19 points (7-19), but no other Islanders reached double figures in the scoring column as ACU held the visitors to 33.9 percent shooting (20-59).
Wright scored 16 points to lead ACU followed by
Sierra Allen who posted a 12-point / 11-rebound double-double. Wright also dished out five assists in 39 minutes of play.
Golightly finished with nine points, while Galindo had eight with six assists. Williamson came off the bench to provide seven points, five rebounds, three assists, two blocks and a steal.
ACU started the game in a 5-0 hole and didn't grab its first lead until Galindo hit a 3-pointer at the 5:47 mark of the first quarter. A layup by Allen made it a 14-8 contest, but the Islanders received an Evans jumper in the paint on their next possession, and a three/quarter buzzer beater from Lajaneira Robinson cut the Wildcats' lead to 15-13.
Corpus Christi tied the score a final time at 17-17 early in the second quarter, but back-to-back 3-pointers from Allen and a layup by Galindo gave ACU a five-point lead (25-20) with 3:47 before the half. The Wildcats would then take a three-point lead into the break after Evans missed two free throws with four seconds remaining.
Twice the Islanders got to within a point in the third quarter, but after a Jolivette jumper at the 6:51 mark made it a 31-30 game the Wildcats knocked down three 3-pointers on their next five shot attempts in grabbing a 40-30 lead. Galindo assisted on the first two triples hit by Wright and
Josie Larson, and then Wright assisted on Larson's trey with 3:55 to go in the third quarter.
Larson finished the game with seven points and one rebound in eight minutes of action.
The Wildcats are off Saturday and will play their next game at preseason conference favorite Lamar Jan. 31 at 7 p.m.
