ABILENE –
Sara Williamson scored five points in the final 10 seconds of the game, including the game-winning layup with less than one second to play Saturday afternoon as the ACU Wildcats escaped a spirited upset bid from Incarnate Word, 58-56, in front of a lively crowd at Moody Coliseum.
ACU (15-8 overall and 9-4 in the Southland Conference) led by as many as seven points early in the fourth quarter before Imani Robinson got her team back in the game as she scored nine of 17 second-half points in the final four minutes of the game. Five straight points by Robinson cut the ACU lead from 51-44 to 51-49 with 3:03 to play before
Dominique Golightly hit a pair of free throws to extend the lead back to 53-49 with 2:48 left int he game.
UIW (3-20 and 2-10) cut the lead to 53-52 at the 2:20 mark when Melina Merritt beat the shot-clock buzzer with a 3-pointer to leave ACU up by just one point. Robinson then gave the Cardinals a 54-53 lead with 1:08 to play with a layup before Williamson turned the ball over with 53 seconds to play, leading to back-to-back timeouts by both teams to set up offensive and defensive sets.
Robinson missed a jumper with 30 seconds left and freshman post
Makayla Mabry cleared the defensive rebound and pushed the ball ahead to freshman guard
Kayla Galindo. The ball eventually found its way into Williamson's hands and she drove into the lane and hit a layup and was fouled by Haley Frias. Williamson made the free throw to give ACU a 56-54 lead with nine seconds to play.
But UIW burned its last timeout of the game and moved the ball into the frontcourt to set up a play to either tie or win the game. Robinson got the ball, drove down the right side of the lane and scooped in a game-tying layup with 4.8 seconds left in the game. ACU then called its last timeout and moved the ball into the front court and set up its final offensive play of regulation.
Breanna Wright inbounded the ball to Williamson, who found an opening in the lane, drove right to the bucket and laid the ball in with 0.5 seconds left. UIW inbounded the ball, but didn't get a shot off and ACU celebrated its ninth straight win over the Cardinals and 21st overall. The Wildcats haven't lost to the Cardinals since both programs moved to NCAA Division I affiliation in 2013-14.
Golightly played all 40 minutes and finished with a team-high 18 points, while Williamson had 11 and Mabry had 10 points and a pair of rebounds in 16 solid minutes off the bench. Galindo scored just two points, but had seven rebounds and three assists in 37 minutes. Wright played all 40 minutes and finished with nine points, seven rebounds, four assists, one block and one steal.
The Wildcats are off until next Saturday when they return to the road to take on Southeastern Louisiana in Hammond, La.
