SAN ANTONIO – Sophomore
Alyssa Adams returned to her hometown Saturday afternoon and led a dominant second-half effort by the ACU Wildcats, who turned a narrow halftime lead over Incarnate Word into a 71-50 win over the Cardinals at the McDermott Center.
The win pushes the Wildcats to 16-8 overall and 9-4 in the Southland Conference, equaling last season's win total and conference win total in a 16-14 and 9-9 campaign. The Cardinals, meanwhile, are now 3-20 overall and 3-9 in the league following their fourth loss in their last five games.
Adams -- who played her high school basketball at Johnson HS in San Antonio -- scored nine of her 14 points in the second half to help ACU turn a 34-29 halftime advantage into a 21-point win. The 14 points tie Adams' career high (14 vs. Eastern New Mexico on Nov. 17, 2018) and gives her four career double-digit scoring games.
All nine of those second-half points came in the fourth quarter where ACU outscored Incarnate Worde 28-15 to pull away for the victory. ACU was 8 of 13 from the field in the final 10 minutes of the game and 11 of 15 from the free throw line, continually driving into the paint for layups or trips to the line.
Jazz Taylor had five points off the bench in the fourth quarter, while
Lexie Ducat and
Sara Williamson each scored four points in the final 10 minutes. The Wildcats ran the high-low game to near-perfection in the fourth quarter as
Makayla Mabry picked up two assists and Ducat one as the Wildcats' post players did a terrific job sharing the basketball.
Incarnate Word opened the game with a 7-0 run, but that was the only highlight of the afternoon for the Cardinals, who never led again after ACU took a 19-17 lead with 7:02 left in the first half on a
Breanna Wright 3-pointer. A second 3-pointer by the ACU junior point guard gave ACU a 22-19 lead with 6:10 left in the half and the Wildcats finished the half on a 10-5 run to make it 29-24 at the break.
The Wildcats dominated the second half, outscoring the Cardinals 42-26, hitting 12 of 25 shots from the floor and holding UIW to just 9 of 28 shooting from the floor.
Wright – 3 for 3 from 3-point range – led all scorers with 15 points, while Adams had 14,
Dominique Golightly 13 and Williamson 11. ACU is off Wednesday, but will return to action Saturday when it hosts Southeastern Louisiana at 1 p.m. at Moody Coliseum.
