ABILENE – Coming off its best game as a Southland Conference school, scoring 109 points and shooting better than 60 percent vs. McNeese, Abilene Christian women's basketball embarks on a three-game road trip that starts with Saturday's 1 p.m. game at Southeastern Louisiana.
Grant Boone will handle the play-by-play for both ends of the Wildcat / Lions doubleheader on
98.1 FM – The Ticket. LionSports.net also will provide a
video stream and
real-time stats from Hammond, La.
ACU's massive 57-point blowout win over the Cowgirls Wednesday at Moody lifted its overall record to 10-4 and kept the Wildcats undefeated within the league at 3-0; however, the Lady Lions will put that unblemished record to the test. Southeastern La. comes into Saturday's contest with a 6-7 record that includes quality wins over SMU (W, 63-62), ULM (W, 49-42) and Central Arkansas (W, 62-53).
The Lady Lions' split last season's series with the Wildcats following an 86-80 loss with a 78-76 win. And even though ACU leads the all-time series 7-2, three of the last seven games going to back to the 2014-15 campaign have been decided by two points or less.
SLU's top scoring threat this year is Celica Sterling. The junior transfer guard is leading her side with 16.0 points per game and is tops in the league with 39 3-pointers, 3.00 treys per game and 3-point field goal percentage (.419). Her overall field goal percentage of .464 is sixth in the league, and will certainly challenge the Southland's No. 1 3-point defense (.273 – 41st nationally).
Following the McNeese romp, ACU also is tops in the conference in assist turnover ratio (1.02), assists per game (17.9), blocked shots (59), field-goal percentage (.451), and rebound margin (+8.4), plus 3's attempted (374), made (116) and per game (8.3).
Senior
Sara Williamson led the Wildcats in the scoring column with 24 points on 9-11 shooting, and since the start of Southland play she is shooting .733 (22-30). Her recent success not only has lifted her to the top of the league rankings in field-goal percentage (.643), but she's also 10th in the nation.
Williamson additionally is a top-10 conference player with a 1.97 assist turnover ratio, 4.8 assists per game, 1.29 blocks per game, and 1.93 assists per game.
Breanna Wright is ranked among the league's top six in all three assist-related categories and is third with 48 free throws and a .842 free-throw percentage. Her classmate
Dominique Golightly is top five with 102 3-pointers attempted, 2.14 treys per game and .294 3-point field-goal percentage, while sophomore starter
Makayla Mabry has 1.14 blocks per game to rank sixth in the Southland.
