NACOGDOCHES, Texas – Trailing by 21 with 1:21 to play in the third quarter, the ACU women's basketball put together an 18-3 run to get right back in it against the Stephen F. Austin Ladyjacks. However, SFA made a couple of shots late including a three-pointer to go up nine points, and ACU was on the wrong end of a 69-59 final at the William R. Johnson Coliseum. The Wildcats (15-3, 7-2 SLC) struggled out of the gate, but put together a valiant effort late in the second half to get back into the contest.
Southland Significance
- SFA stays a game and a half ahead of ACU for first place in the standings, but with still 11 games left in the conference season, we have a long way to go. ACU is in fourth place in the standings, but there is a jumble in the top four after Texas A&M-Corpus Christi topped Sam Houston State Wednesday.
Turning Point: The final 16 minutes of the first half.
- ACU built a 5-0 lead right out of the gate Wednesday, scoring on a Lexie Ducat layup and a Dominique Golightly three-pointer. But after the media timeout in the first period, SFA outscored the 'Cats 18-7, then dominated the second quarter, pushing the lead to as many as 17 at the 2:00 mark. The big deficit proved to be too much to overcome late in the game.
Key Plays
- During the 18-3 run to get back in it, Golightly gave the team a little jolt at the end of the third quarter, hitting a three in the left corner at the buzzer. ACU trailed by 15 points at the end of three.
- Wright and Ducat went into the lane and converted to start the fourth quarter. ACU started the fourth on a 10-1 run.
- Wright and Madi Miller went back-to-back to cut the deficit to six points, 56-50, at the 4:55 mark, forcing an SFA timeout.
- ACU stayed down six with 1:20 to play, and SFA hit the dagger three-pointer on the left wing to go back up nine points.
Stat Pack
- Wright finished with a team-high 17 points on 5-of-17 shooting.
- Ducat scored 14 points and added five rebounds.
- Golightly finished with 11 points, and hauled in a team-high six boards.
- ACU did not go to the free throw line in the first half; the team finished 7-11 at the line, the second-lowest totals of the season (5-11 at Oklahoma).
- The Wildcats went 10-28 at the three-point line, but on two-point shots, converted just 11-28.
- SFA won the points in the paint total, 40-28.
"Good"-ie Bag of Quotes
Head Coach Julie Goodenough
On her team's slow start…
"We just didn't come out ready to play. We were sluggish, we weren't fired up, we just came out so slow. It's really hard to come back when you get down that many points. We fought back, but we just put ourselves in too big of a hole."
On what changed during the 18-3 run…
"We got stops. We made some key plays defensively. That helped us get going. But ultimately, we didn't make the plays when we needed to, and they did. They played more together in key spots than we did."
On learning from this…
"We will learn from this. We will get better. It's a long season. But we just have to get better, and learn from what we did wrong. We just need to come out ready to go when we get back on the floor."
Up Next
- ACU returns to Moody Coliseum for the first time in two weeks when it hosts the Incarnate Word Cardinals on Saturday evening. The doubleheader gets underway at 4:30 p.m. as ACU hosts Alumni Day and Diaper Derby Day.
