ABILENE – Senior
Sara Williamson led Abilene Christian women's basketball to a 77-70 win over Central Arkansas Saturday at Moody Coliseum behind a team-high 22 points, plus seven rebounds and a D1 era single-game record 10 assists. She had three nine-assist games for her career entering today.
Three additional Wildcat starters reached double digits in scoring as ACU improved to 13-6 overall and 6-2 within the Southland Conference, while the Sugar Bears fell to 7-11 and 2-6. The two teams will meet again March 2 in Conway.
ACU enjoyed its largest lead of the game at halftime, up 37-23, but Central Arkansas made quick work of that deficit behind a 24-point third-quarter effort.
The Sugar Bears connected on four field goals to begin the half in trimming ACU's lead to 37-31, and eventually made it a one-possession game at the 2:42 mark after Alana Canady converted a three-point play that made it a 44-43 game.
UCA took the lead on its first play of the fourth quarter, 49-48, after Kamry Orr (24 points) hit two of her game-high 10 free throws, but the Wildcats quickly countered with a
Makayla Mabry 3-pointer (14 points, five rebounds) and a fast-break layup by junior Dominque Golightly (12 points, four rebounds, three assists) that came off one of her three steals.
The two sides then exchanged shots over the next three minutes as Maddie Goodner's trey was an answered by a
Lexie Ducat jumper (14 points, five rebounds), and buckets by Hannah Langhi and Taylor Sells were canceled out by layups from Mabry and Williamson.
Williamson's basket with 5:35 to go in regulation kick started a mini 6-0 run for the Wildcats that also included jumpers from Mabry and Ducat. Mabry then hit her second trey of the quarter (1:44) after a 3-point play from Orr cut ACU's lead down to 63-59.
The two teams then went to the foul line a combined 19 times over the final minute with the Wildcats hitting on 11 of 14 fourth-quarter attempts.
Breanna Wright's two free throws with 11 seconds remaining put the home team ahead 75-70, and then freshman
Madi Miller sank two more with six seconds on the clock.
UCA made all 10 of its fourth-quarter free throws (all by Orr) and finished the game 14-15 from the charity stripe (.933). The Sugar Bears additionally shot .491 (26-53) from the field and were 4-13 (.308) from the 3-point line.
ACU, by comparison, shot 68 percent (17-25) from the free-throw line and was 28-of-52 from the field (.538).
Forty-four of the Wildcats' 77 points were scored in the paint, and a 11-5 offensive rebound advantage resulted in 16 second-chance points.
Sells totaled 15 points for the Sugar Bears while Mekaylan Hicks finished with 10. Langhi was their leading rebounder with nine.
The Wildcats return to action Wednesday with a 7 p.m. game at Texas A&M-Corpus Christ.
