NEW ORLEANS – A 24-point third quarter outburst followed by clutch free-throw shooting and several defensive stops late in the fourth led Abilene Christian women's basketball to a 59-52 victory at New Orleans Wednesday night in the Southland Conference season opener for both teams at Lakefront Arena.
"Credit our kids for playing super hard tonight," said ACU head coach
Julie Goodenough, who tonight coached her 700th collegiate game. "This was a hard-fought battle. New Orleans always plays a junkyard dog defense. You have to take care of the ball and you have to hit shots when you get them, and we didn't shoot the ball very well from the 3-point line. We took good shots but didn't put them in."
With several players in foul trouble, ACU (8-4, 1-0 SLC) was limited to only two points in the second quarter but still went into the break up 20-19. Then coming out of halftime the Wildcats took off on a 16-7 run in grabbing their first ten-point lead of the night at 36-26.
ACU was led offensively during this stretch by
Sara Williamson, who scored 10 of her 12 points on 5-of-6 shooting. The Wildcats also received one of two 3-pointers from
Dominique Golightly, and a bucket from
Lexie Ducat, which forced the Privateers (4-6, 0-1 SLC) into a timeout down 27-21.
"Instead of fouling we got defensive stops," said Goodenough, "and we scored some uncontested layups in transition and that really go our offense going. Sara's baskets were good momentum shifts for us."
ACU would lead the rest of the night, but UNO twice marched back with a pair of 8-2 runs. Their first in the third quarter cut the Wildcats' advantage to 38-35, and their one in the fourth made it a 53-51 ballgame. But down the stretch, Golightly sank a much-needed layup to put the Wildcats up by four points at 55-51 and then
Breanna Wright (20 points) iced the game with four consecutive free throws.
Golightly and Williamson each were second to Wright with 12 points, and were both part of a key play to end the third quarter as Williamson's block on UNO's final possession led to a
Makayla Mabry rebound (14 rebounds) and Golightly's subsequent 3-pointer at the buzzer that put ACU ahead 44-36 after 30 minutes of play.
The Wildcats shot 58.7 percent in the third quarter, and 40.7 percent for the game. By comparison, UNO shot 34.7 percent for the game and made just one of 12 3-point attempts while missing on seven of 24 free throws (.708).
ACU led 18-10 after the first quarter on 50.0 percent shooting, but with three starters (Williamson, Ducat, Golightly) in foul trouble points were hard to find in the second quarter (for both teams) as they were outscored, 9-2. Wright scored ACU's lone basket (1-of-13) on a layup at the 2:30 mark.
Thankfully, the Privateers were equally inept on offense in hitting on only 2-of-11 second quarter field goals, but grabbed a brief one-point lead at 19-18 thanks to five free throws.
UNO's last point of the second quarter came with 2:48 remaining and hit its last field goal with 5:10 before the halftime.
"The second quarter was really tough," said Goodenough. "We had key players on the bench that whole quarter so for us to sustain and keep the lead going into the locker room at halftime was a big deal for us.
"Since we won the game, we can say this was a really good experience for us to have them (starters) on the bench and figure out what combinations we can keep on the floor," she added. "The players who did play in that second quarter did a really good job defensively. We held New Orleans to under 20 points for a whole half – and even though we really struggled to score with that group they did a nice job defensively and sustained while our starters were on the bench. I think that's going to pay off huge dividends for us down the road.
"We'll be in situations probably nightly where we have someone in foul trouble. We've just not had so many people in foul trouble at one time this season. This was a great learning experience for us."
ACU shot only 15.4 percent from 3-point range all game, but made up for that by outscoring the Privateers in the paint, 40-20. The Wildcats additionally scored nine points off UNO turnovers and a 42-34 rebounding advantage led to nine second-chance points.
"As a coach you try to strategize, and you try to take something away, but you can't take everything away," said Goodenough. "We face that a lot – people putting pressure on our three-point shooters – but it does open up the opportunity to drive into the paint."
The Wildcats return to action Saturday for a 3 p.m. game in Huntsville, Texas vs. Sam Houston State. The game will air locally in Abilene on 98.1 FM – The Ticket.
