HAMMOND – Abilene Christian women's basketball came all the way back from a 13-point second-quarter deficit (42-29), but couldn't hold onto its late-game lead as the Lady Lions of Southeastern Louisiana put together a 6-0 run over the final 2:38 to edge the Wildcats, 74-71, Saturday afternoon at the University Center.
The loss snapped a three-game, Southland Conference winning streak for the Wildcats (10-5, 3-1 SLC), while the Lady Lions evened their overall record at 7-7 (2-1 SLC).
Southeastern La. hit eight first-half 3-pointers in building its double-digit lead, but ACU finished the second quarter on an 8-0 flurry that was bookended by 3-pointers from juniors
Breanna Wright (20 points) and
Dominique Golightly (13 points). Wright hit hers with :45 seconds left following a technical foul by Morgan Carrier, and Golightly buried hers at the buzzer off an assist from
Sara Williamson (10 points, four assists).
ACU continued to keep its deficit in the single digits throughout the third quarter, and eventually tied the score at 57-57 on a pair of free throws by sophomore
Alyssa Adams and took their first lead since the first quarter at the :36 second mark on a trey from sophomore
Makayla Mabry, 60-58.
Wright scored the first bucket of the fourth quarter to put the Wildcats ahead, 62-58, but the visitors couldn't create any additional cushion in the scoring column as SLU came right back with a 3-pointer from Celica Sterling (21 points, five 3-pointers). Then Caitlyn and Kyla Williams hit buckets within a minute of each another to bring the lead back to the Lady Lions, 65-62, with 7:09 remaining.
The Wildcats soon were down by four points after Jaclyn Scholvin (10 points) sank a 3-pointer right before the media timeout, but Williamson converted an 'and 1' right out of the stoppage and Wright finished off a pass from Mabry to give ACU the lead once more at 69-68 with 3:28 remaining.
Unfortunately, that would be the Wildcats final field goal of the game with their last points coming from Wright at the free-throw line at the 2:38 mark. Those baskets provided ACU a 71-68 advantage that soon vanished behind a pair of foul shots by Kyla Williams (11 points), and two-point field goals from Caitlyn Williams (9 points) and Sterling.
ACU then had two chances to drain the game-tying 3-pointer in the closing seconds but missed the mark on both attempts.
The Wildcats shot 45.3 percent for the game (24-53) with seven 3-pointers and made only 69.6 percent of its 23 free-throw attempts. The Lady Lions also missed a sizeable number of free throws in the second half (seven), but drained a dozen 3-pointers in finishing at a 52.2 clip.
ACU won the rebound battle, 33-27, but had it bench outscored, 22-9, and allowed 27 points off 18 turnovers.
The Wildcats remain on the road for most of next week as their Wednesday night game at Houston Baptist is followed by a Saturday matinee at Northwestern St.
