ABILENE – The ACU women's basketball team takes its eight-game winning streak into the 2019 Southland Conference Tournament Championship rematch with the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Islanders on Saturday afternoon in Moody Coliseum. It is the first of two meetings this year between the schools, as ACU (4-0) looks to keep pace with Sam Houston State as the only unbeatens in league play.
FOLLOW THE GAME
ACU vs. Texas A&M-Corpus Christi: Saturday, Jan. 11 (1 p.m.)
- Listen: 98.1 The Ticket (
Zach Carlyle)
- Watch: ESPN3 (John Liddle - PxP, Stephen Howard - Analyst)
- Live Stats: StatBroadcast
SERIES HISTORY
- ACU leads the series all-time 9-3, and has won each of the last three meetings, all of which came last season. The Wildcats won a close, 72-68 game last season in Corpus Christi, after holding a large lead in the first half and holding on late.
- ACU then won comfortably at home, 72-55, on Feb. 27, before winning the most important game in program history on March 17, 2019 in Katy, Texas in the Southland Championship Game. ACU led by as many as 24 points, and held on literally until the final buzzer to win 69-68 to punch its ticket to the NCAA Tournament. ACU holds a 5-1 edge in games played in Abilene.
ACU STORYLINES
- ACU is up to No. 11 in the latest Mid Major Poll, as released Jan. 7. It is the highest ranking in program history.
- The Wildcats are riding an eight-game winning streak, its largest such streak since the end of the 2016-17 season when the team won eight straight heading into the WNIT second round.
- Junior
Makayla Mabry hit a career-best seven three-pointers, her and her teammates scored 32 points in the fourth quarter, and ACU ran away from the McNeese Cowgirls in Lake Charles, La. The Wildcats scored the second-most points in any quarter this season in the fourth quarter en route to their eighth straight victory, 90-73.
- ACU is 4-0 to start the Southland schedule for the third time in the last five seasons.
- Mabry dialed up from distance in the win at McNeese, hitting seven three-pointers and scoring 25 points, both career-bests. The San Antonio native launched 12 three-point attempts, another career mark, and guided ACU to the victory on the road.
- Senior
Dominique Golightly scored a career-high 27 points against Lamar last week to earn her Southland Conference Player of the Week honors for the second time this season.
- Golightly is in the best stretch of her historic career, after recently joining the 1,000-point club. The Chickasha, Okla. native has nine double-digit scoring games this season, and tied her previous career-high with 26 points earlier this year. Golightly has three 20+ point efforts so far, and is averaging 14.8 points per game. Golightly leads all Southland guards with 5.5 rebounds per game as well.
- The team ranks fourth in the country in scoring at 86.5 points per game, and the +29.9 scoring margin per game ranks fifth in all of women's college basketball as well. The 50.2% shooting from the field ranks third in the nation, and the 11.1 three-point field goals made per game ranks third in America.
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Breanna Wright ranks in the top five in the conference in seven different categories, including assist to turnover ratio, assists, shooting percentage, free throw percentage, points per game, steals, and three-point shooting.
SCOUTING A&M-CORPUS CHRISTI (9-6, 3-2 SLC)
- The Islanders are on a two-game losing streak, falling at Southeastern Louisiana (48-44) and at home to Stephen F. Austin on Wednesday (66-44). SFA used a big third quarter to pull away from AMCC in Corpus.
- AMCC is averaging 61.5 points per game, but its strength comes defensively and on the glass. The Islanders are allowing just 59.0 points per contest and are averaging 39 rebounds as well. - The team returns almost everyone from last year's squad that made a run as the No. 6 seed all the way to the Southland Championship team. That team upset #3 seed Nicholls and #2 seed Stephen F. Austin in Katy before falling to #4 Abilene Christian by just a single point.
- Alexes Bryant leads the way in scoring at 12.1 per game, and her and teammate Dalesia Booth each have recorded 20 blocks on the year.
