ABILENE – Junior guard
Breanna Wright scored 24 points on 8-of-12 shooting in leading Abilene Christian women's basketball to a 90-47 season-opening victory over Southwest Friday night at Moody Coliseum. Wright's first bucket of the game – a layup at the 8-minute mark of the first quarter – gave her 600 career points and her second 3-point bucket – taken in the closing seconds of the third quarter – was the 100th of her career.
Wright is now the Wildcats' seventh leading scorer within their D1 era, which began in 2013-14, and her 101 3-pointers rank fifth among all of ACU's D1 student-athletes. She made 3-of-6 long-distance attempts this evening and hit 5-of-6 buckets (.833) from the foul line, picking up where she left off last season as one of the nation's top free-throw shooters.
Starters
Sara Williamson (14) and
Makayla Mabry (10) also reached double figures in scoring, as did reserve
Josie Larson, who was a perfect 4-of-4 from the field (2-2, 3-point range) in totaling 10 points in 11 minutes.
Williamson also led a defensive effort that resulted in 35 Mustang turnovers, in fact, the Wildcats' 19 steals tonight were their most since recording 22 thefts against this same Southwest program in Nov. of 2015. Williamson tied two of her teammates with three steals, pulled down four rebounds, dished out five assists, and hit 5-of-6 field-goal attempts.
Postgame comments from head coach Julie Goodenough
ACU finished with a +7 rebounding advantage led by Mabry's six boards, and overall the Wildcats' limited the Mustangs to .381 shooting from the field as the visitors whiffed on 26 of 42 attempts, including seven 3-pointers.
This game never was in doubt. The Wildcats led by 12 (26-14) following the first quarter and were up comfortably at halftime, 48-25. After three quarters they were up 69-42 thanks to a perfect 4-for-4 / nine-point frame from Wright. ACU's defense then went into lockdown mode in the final quarter, allowing just five points on 2-of-11 shooting an one free throw.
The Mustangs committed seven turnovers in the fourth quarter, resulting in nine bonus points for the Wildcats, who are now 30-18 all-time on Opening Night.
ACU is off until next Thursday, Nov. 15, which is Wildcat Kids' Day. Tip-off for this special game against Howard Payne is 11 a.m.
