ABILENE – The ACU women's basketball team had its eight-game winning streak snapped last Saturday against the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Islanders, and now looks to get back on track when it hosts Southeastern Louisiana. The Wildcats look to build a new Moody Coliseum winning streak as well, which was snapped at 11 games.
FOLLOW THE GAME
ACU vs. Southeastern Louisiana: Saturday, Jan. 18 (4:30 p.m.)
- Watch: ESPN+ (
Zach Carlyle & Owen Simpson)
- Live Stats: SidearmStats
SERIES HISTORY
- ACU leads the series 8-3 all-time, but the Lady Lions have given the 'Cats fits over the years. SLU earned a 74-71 win with a defensive stand at the buzzer last season in Hammond, La. before ACU earned an 86-66 victory at Moody Coliseum later in the season. The teams have split each of the last four meetings, but ACU is unblemished at Moody Coliseum all-time, 4-0.
ACU STORYLINES
- ACU checks in at No. 17 in the latest Mid Major Poll, dropping down from its previous ranking of 11, the highest the team had ever been. The 'Cats have earned key road victories this season. The team topped then-No. 16 Wright State on Nov. 15, and won at Portland on Nov. 29, who was receiving votes. ACU has been ranked 11, 12, 15, 17, 18, and 21 this season.
- The team ranks fourth in the country in scoring at 86.5 points per game, and the +23.1 scoring margin per game ranks eighth in all of women's college basketball as well. The 49.3% shooting from the field and the 10.8 three-point field goals made per game both rank third in the nation.
- ACU is 14th in the nation in assists per game (18.0), 52nd in assist/turnover ratio (1.1), and 10th in steals per game (12.2).
- 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 began Southland Conference play 4-0 for the third time in the last five seasons.
- Senior Breanna Wright has now scored 1,261 points in her career, moving into the illustrious 1,000-point club late last season. Wright is shooting an insane 46.9 percent from the floor including 41.3 percent from behind the three-point line. The Jarrell, Texas native has also recorded 480 career assists, the most in ACU's Division I history.
- Makayla 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, 90-73.
"GOOD"-IE BAG OF QUOTES
Head Coach Julie Goodenough
On the long, grueling conference season...
"The basketball season is long. It spans two semesters. We want to just be focused on the task at hand, and we want to be where our feet on. It's a marathon. There are so many scouting reports, so many road trips... it's a long, taxing season. We have a lot of work to do. We don't want to pace yourself, because you can't step back and let up, but we just want to focus on what's next."
On learning from the loss last week...
"We have to be constantly evaluating. Obviously, you'd love to learn from a situation and still win the game, but that didn't happen Saturday. We have things to improve on and things to accomplish today. Even in things like blocking out and rebounding. If we have a lapse defensively, if you close out and rebound, that typically doesn't matter. So we just have to evaluate and get better every day."
On her team's bye week to get ready for Southeastern Louisiana...
"You have to utilize the bye to do whatever is best. We took the day off. It's the first week of class, and we just needed to take a break and focus on us and then get ready for Southeastern Louisiana. You just have to do what is best for the group of players you have."
Individual Southland Conference Ranks
- Dominique Golightly
- Assist/Turnover Ration (1st)
- Points/Game (2nd)
- 3-Point Field Goal Percentage (3rd)
- Assists/Game (4th)
- Field Goal Percentage (4th)
- 3-Point Field Goals Made/Game (4th)
- 3-Point Field Goals Made (5th)
- Breanna Wright
- Assists (1st)
- Assists/Game (1st)
- Free Throw Percentage (2nd)
- 3-Point Field Goal Percentage (2nd)
- Assist/Turnover Ration (3rd)
- 3-Point Field Goals Made/Game (3rd)
- Points/Game (3rd)
- Steals/Game (4th)
- 3-Point Field Goals Made (4th)
- Steals (5th)
- Makayla Mabry
- 3-Point Field Goal Percentage (1st)
SCOUTING SOUTHEASTERN LOUISIANA (5-10, 2-4)
- The Lady Lions are also coming off a bye on Wednesday as they prep for the longest road trip of the season (650+ miles). SLU has dropped two straight coming in, both at home, to Sam Houston State and Nicholls.
- SLU is averaging 62 points per game, and is only shooting 39% from the floor for the season. The calling card is scrappy, hard-nose defense, which is allowing just 68 per contest.
- Celica Sterling leads the team in scoring at 13.7 per game, and has connected on 32 of the 91 triples made for the Lady Lions this season.
