ABILENE – Abilene Christian women's basketball (8-4, 1-0 Southland) concludes its four-game road trip and first Southland Conference weekend with a 3 p.m. game Saturday at Sam Houston State (5-5). This game is the Bearkats' conference season opener as they have not played since a 72-59 defeat at TCU on Dec. 20.
Zach Carlyle will have the call of Saturday's game on
98.1 FM – The Ticket.
ACU Wednesday snapped a three-game losing streak with a 59-52 win at New Orleans. The Wildcats started strong with an 18-point first quarter, but stumbled offensively in the second quarter with several starters in foul trouble. However, ACU still went into halftime up 20-19 and put the game largely out of reach with a fantastic 24-point third quarter which was capped by
Dominique Golightly's 3-point buzzer beater.
The Privateers used an 8-2 run to creep back into the game late in the fourth, but Golightly sank a layup with one minute remaining to put ACU back up by four points and then
Breanna Wright sealed the victory with four consecutive free throws as ACU improved to 6-1 all time vs. UNO.
The Wildcats also have fared well in their series history with the Bearkats. They own an all-time record of 13-6 vs. SHSU with seven of those wins coming since the start of Southland Conference play in 2013-14. ACU swept last year's series, winning 83-65 in Abilene, and 75-72 in Huntsville – a game in which the Wildcats rallied from 13 points down thanks to a career high 31-points (seven 3 pointers) from Wright.
Sam Houston's season ledger includes wins over Louisiana and Southern Miss, while its five losses have come against top-level programs Wichita State, LSU, Troy, TCU and Oral Roberts. Jaylonn Walker is the Bearkats' leading scorer with 15.8 points per game, and Lydia Baxter is averaging 7.8 rebounds per game.
