CORPUS CHRISTI – Abilene Christian women's basketball suffered a 70-51 loss at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Wednesday night at the Dugan Wellness Center, dropping the Wildcats into a tie for fifth place with the Islanders at 9-6.
ACU's overall record is 15-10, while Corpus Christi's stands at 16-10.
The Wildcats tonight were constantly chasing a team that had won its last five home games, and despite coming all the way back from 12 down in the first quarter and later trimming a 15-point third-quarter deficit down to five points within a six-minute span, ACU had no answer for the Islanders' final barrage of 3-pointers.
A 3-pointer from freshman
Josie Larson and a layup from sophomore
Dominique Golightly cut the Islanders' once substantial lead to 52-47 with 8:50 remaining. Then after the two sides exchanged a pair of treys within 15 seconds, Corpus Christi received back-to-back triples from Brittany Mbamalu and Dae Dae Evens to regain its double-digit advantage.
Dalesia Booth put the game out of reach shortly there afterward, hitting a layup at the 5:46 mark followed by four consecutive free throws.
Corpus hit 8-of-19 3-point attempts this evening with six of those coming in the second half, and overall, the Islanders (28-60) shot 46.7 percent from the floor.
The Wildcats, meanwhile, were held to 40.0 percent shooting (20-50) with their bench responsible for 28 of the team's 51 points. Golightly led all Wildcat scorers with 14 points, followed by Larson off the bench with 12, while rookie
Kayla Galindo scored six points to go along with five rebounds and four assists.
Four Islanders reached double figures in scoring led by Emma Young's 18 points. Mbamalu finished with 16, Booth totaled 14 and Evans chipped in 13 for a Corpus Christi team that tonight snapped a two-game conference losing streak and five-game series slide to ACU.
The Wildcats return to action Saturday at 2 p.m. for the start of a two-game season-ending homestand vs. Central Arkansas (Feb. 24) and Stephen F. Austin (Feb. 28). ACU Saturday's game against the Sugar Bears additionally will serve as Senior Day (for
Sierra Allen,
Taudenciah Oluoch and manager Cailyn Byrd) and the 50th Anniversary Celebration of Moody Coliseum.
ACU is 12-1 at home this season and 7-0 vs. Southland Conference teams.
