EL PASO, Texas – Abilene Christian women's basketball is off to its best start under head coach
Julie Goodenough at 6-0 following its thrilling 70-69 win over UTEP Saturday night at the Don Haskins Center.
The Wildcats, which led by as many as 15 points in the first quarter, regained the lead a final time with 13 seconds remaining on a pair of free throws by junior guard
Breanna Wright (12 points, 8 assists, 5 rebounds 40 minutes) and recorded a crucial defensive stop at the buzzer when Ariona Gill's 3-point attempt missed its mark.
Here's a portion of what was discussed on the ACU bench during the game's final time out.
"We had a foul to give and I think UTEP thought we would use it," said Goodenough, whose teams have won three in-season tournaments (Air Force, UMKC, UTEP) over the past five seasons. "But I told our kids in the huddle that we weren't going to foul them; that we were going to win the game with a defensive stop."
The difficulty in getting such stops kept increasing following a first quarter in which UTEP made only 30 percent of its shots (4-13) in being outscored 23-8. Eventually, the Miners pulled to within seven points (37-30) at halftime thanks to a 22-point second quarter, and grabbed its first lead at 50-49 on its final possession of the third quarter.
The Miners shot 52.9 percent (9-17) from the floor in the third and started the fourth quarter with three consecutive buckets in the first 2:28. Luckily for the Wildcats, the team continued to shoot well from 3-point range and jumped ahead 58-56 on back-to-back treys from junior guard
Dominique Golightly (18 points, 4 rebounds, 2 assists). ACU then took its largest lead of the quarter, 62-58, on a 3-pointer from senior guard
Sara Williamson (10 points, 4 rebounds, 4 assists) with 5:00 to go.
UTEP, however, would not be deterred and used an 8-3 run over a three-minute span to climb back into the lead at 69-67. ACU was then given a chance to tie the score, but Williamson missed her first of two free throws in giving the ball back to the Miners with only 23 seconds left.
This ensuing possession was expected to be the home team's best chance to put away the game; however, Zuzanna Puc couldn't handle the pressure brought by Golightly and coughed it back to the Wildcats with 16 seconds left. This turnover, only the ninth all game for UTEP, directly led to Wright's game-winning free throws.
"We had some things go against us in the second half, but we ended the game with a stop, a score and a stop," said Goodenough. "Dominique put a lot of pressure on the ball, and that forced the turnover. Then we got the ball to Brea and we wanted the ball in her hands for the last shot. Give her a lot of credit. She's tough as nails and and to hit those free throws in this environment (983 attendance) was huge."
Wright, who was one of the national leaders in free-throw percentage (.874) last season, has started this year making 21-of-24 attempts (.875).
ACU's win over UTEP was its first in four tries and wouldn't have come about if not for the exceptional 3-point shooting by sophomore forward
Makayla Mabry in the first half. The San Antonio native set a single-game career high with 17 points on 6-of-9 shooting, and was successful on 5-of-8 long-range attempts.
Mabry buried four treys during a five-minute window in the first quarter to give ACU a 19-8 lead, and scored the Wildcats' first bucket of the third quarter, which gave her side a 40-35 lead. She also pulled down five rebounds to tie teammates Wright and
Alyssa Adams.
ACU shot 50 percent overall from 3-point range (14-28) and was 24-for-47 (.511) from the field. The Wildcats additionally helped their cause by hitting 8-of-11 (.727) free throws, while UTEP only went to the charity stripe three times – once in the second half.
The Miners scored a majority (50 of 69) of their points in the paint, and converted 17 Wildcat turnovers into 24 points – which was a major factor in their third-quarter comeback.
"That's a good team (UTEP) and they're going to win a lot of games in Conference USA so this is a really big win for our program," said Goodenough. This was our third game in eight days and we're ready to get home, but this was an incredible way to finish the trip."
The Wildcats return to action Wednesday for a 7 p.m. game at Tulsa (3-3).
