ABILENE – Junior
Alyssa Adams scored a career-high 22 points, the team shot 45.2% from the floor, and the Wildcat women's basketball team held on against the Southeastern Louisiana Lady Lions on Saturday night in front of a raucous Moody Coliseum crowd. Adams paced the way with 22 points and 11 rebounds as ACU (13-2, 5-1 SLC) gets back in the winning column after falling last Saturday. The Wildcats used a big run in the second quarter, and never trailed throughout the game.
First Turning Point: The second quarter.
- After a first quarter that saw each side score just 12 points, ACU jumped out strong in the second. Adams scored the first four of the quarter, and helped her team outscore SLU 21-13 in the period.
Second Turning Point: Breanna Wright in the fourth quarter.
- SLU cut the ACU lead to three points, 51-48, with 6:19 to play in the game. Then Brea Wright took over. The senior did her thing by getting to the free throw line, hitting both, then knocking down a three-pointer on the next possession to push the advantage immediately back to eight points. The Lady Lions never got it closer.
Key Plays
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Alyssa Adams, who was making her second career start due to an injury to
Anna McLeod, dominated right from the beginning. The San Antonio native hit 3-of-4 shots in the second quarter, and had 11 points at the half.
- Adams hit a free throw to push the lead to five points, 26-21, with 2:01 left in the half.
- During the 12-6 run to close the half,
Lexie Ducat hit a pair of free throws and
Dominique Golightly converted on a layup.
- Wright scored five straight to push the lead to eight points with 5:01 to play in the game.
- Adams hit four straight free throws to ice the game.
End of the Half
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Breanna Wright had the highlight of the half, hitting a three-pointer from 33 feet on the left side of the floor as time expired to push the lead to 33-25.
Stat Pack
- Adams tallied 22 points, breaking a new career-best set when she scored 14 points at UIW last season. Her 11 rebounds also set a new career mark.
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Breanna Wright scored 16 points on an incredibly efficient 4-of-6 from the floor, all of which came from the three-point line. Wright added a pair of assists as well.
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Dominique Golightly scored 12 points and dished out a team-high four assists. The Chickasha, Okla. native also snagged eight rebounds in the win.
- ACU's started played 95% of the minutes, with Wright and Golightly playing all 40.
Makayla Mabry and Adams each played 38 minutes.
- ACU converted 17-of-22 at the free throw line, while SLU was just 7-of-12.
Good-ie Bag of Quotes
Head Coach Julie Goodenough
On how important the win was…
"We need to protect our home floor. We didn't do that last week. So for us to come out here and beat a scrappy, tough-nosed Southeastern team was big for us. This win was huge for our team moving forward knowing that we have three away from home coming up."
On Alyssa Adams' career night…
"We knew Alyssa was going to play a lot, and we were so proud of how physical she was. She was constantly in attack mode, and did a great job of getting to the free throw line (8-of-10). I'm so proud of her. We've been trying to get her more minutes, and tonight I think will propel her into the rest of the season."
Up Next
- ACU will hit the road for a three-game road trip, beginning next Wednesday at Sam Houston State in Huntsville, Texas. The team will then travel to Conway, Ark. for a Saturday date with Central Arkansas before wrapping the road trip on Wednesday, Jan. 29 at SFA in Nacogdoches, Texas.
