ABILENE – Abilene Christian women's basketball is hoping for another large and raucous crowd Wednesday night when the Wildcats play host to first-place Lamar at Moody Coliseum at 6 p.m. The game will be streamed on
ESPN+ (
Zach Carlyle and Brandon Osborne) in addition to
Stretch Internet (
Chris Macaluso and Owen Simpson).
The Cardinals have won 23 consecutive regular-season Southland Conference games (16-4) and sit atop the league with a 9-0 record followed by Stephen F. Austin (8-0) and the Wildcats (14-6, 7-2). The Nicholls Colonels are a game behind ACU at 6-3.
The Wildcats trail their all-time series vs. the Cardinals, 5-2, with both wins coming at Moody Coliseum. ACU recorded its first win over the Cardinals in 2016, 90-62, but lost the rematch in Beaumont, 63-54, several days later for their lone loss of the 2015-16 Southland Conference regular season. ACU again defeated Lamar in 2017, 77-59, but lost last year's game at Montage Center, 77-71.
ACU won its lone game last week (72-68 at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi) thanks to the combined performances from juniors
Dominique Golightly and
Breanna Wright. Golightly finished the contest with nine rebounds and 15 points, which included a clutch 3-pointer with 45 seconds remaining, while Wright sank four of her six free throws down the stretch in finishing with 17 points. Junior
Lexie Ducat also fared well vs. the Islanders, scoring 14 points on 6-9 shooting.
Golightly's effort earned her a Southland Conference honorable mention.
The Cardinals, meanwhile, pushed their season-best winning streak to 11 games last week with victories over Nicholls (78-65) and McNeese (64-62) that kept them first in the Southland in scoring offense (78.9 ppg) and steals per game (15.7). Lamar also claims an +11.2 turnover margin as the team forces 25.85 per game while turning it over an average of 14.9 times per game. McNeese coughed up the ball 29 times Saturday vs. the Cardinals in its two-point loss.
Players to watch for Lamar include seniors Chastadie Barrs and Moe Kinard, and freshman Miya Crump. Barrs, a three-time Southland Conference Defensive Player of the Year, again ranks first nationally with 6.0 steals per game. Kinard is the league's leader in field goal attempts (321) and makes (140), and Crump is ranked among the Southland's top-10 in points (15.4), blocks (1.10) and steals (2.30) per game.
