McLeod’s heroics cap regular season in style

Saturday, March 7

San Antonio, Texas

2 p.m.

Abilene Christian

24-5,16-4Southland

Incarnate Word

14-15,10-10Southland

OT 1

Abilene Christian

Incarnate Word

Photo by: Jeremy Enlow

McLeod’s heroics cap regular season in style

3/7/2020 7:53:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

SAN ANTONIO – Junior Anna McLeod hit a three-pointer with just three seconds left in regulation to tie the game, and scored nine more in overtime as the ACU women's basketball team capped the regular season in style with a 76-69 win at Incarnate Word. The Wildcats (24-5, 16-4 SLC) earn their 24th win before the postseason; 2019-20 marks the fifth time in history the program has won 24 or more regular season games.

Southland Significance

The game eventually did not mean much in terms of the seeding in the upcoming Hercules Tires Southland Conference Tournament. Texas A&M-Corpus Christi won the regular season at 17-3, while SFA and ACU tied for second at 16-4. SFA wins the tiebreaker to earn the No. 2 seed, so ACU is the No. 3 seed next week and will play Friday, March 13 at 1:30 p.m. in Katy, Texas.

The Final Minutes of the 4th Quarter

ACU trailed by five points, 56-51, with under three minutes to play in regulation. McLeod scored on a layup inside to cut it to three, but after an Imani Robinson free throw, the Cardinals led 57-53.
Breanna Wright, who struggled to hit from the outside, hit a pair of free throws to cut it to two, 57-55, and then would hit one of two shots moments later to trim it to 57-56 UIW with 1:20 left.
UIW then worked a possession and found a wide-open layup on the baseline to go back up three points, and then madness ensued.
Madi Miller missed a three-pointer, but a Lexie Ducat offensive rebound gave ACU another chance to tie it. McLeod then missed a three, but after another o-board, a jump ball occurred. ACU kept possession, but turned it over on the inbound pass.
Imani Robinson then drew a foul, and missed both foul shots with 24 seconds left to continue to leave the door open for the Wildcats. However, Wright would miss another three-pointer and the gave was thought to be over.
UIW got the rebound and called timeout to advance the ball. On the ensuing inbound, a bad pass resulted in a turnover to give ACU ANOTHER chance to tie it in the final seconds. Down 59-56, McLeod was ready. Wright dribbled the ball through the defense looking for a shot, and found McLeod on the right wing, who got off a tough shot to tie it with 3.0 seconds remaining. UIW's last-second shot rimmed out, and we went to overtime.

All Wildcats in OT

McLeod stayed hot to open overtime, getting to the free throw line early. The Houston native hit four free throws, and the defense got key stops as well. Wright and Dominique Golightly hit big three's in the final period, and the lead blossomed to eight points. ACU would hit more free throws late to win by seven points, 76-69, outscoring UIW 17-10 in the overtime period.

Key Plays

Dominique Golightly was not initially announced as a starter for ACU, due to a mistake by the public-address announcer. Golightly then proceeded to hit a three-pointer eight seconds into the game after ACU won the opening jump.
Golightly, Makayla Mabry, McLeod, and Wright each hit a three-pointer in the first quarter as ACU led 19-10 after one period.
Leading 29-28, Lexie Ducat scored inside on the second-to-last play of the first half to push the lead to three going into the locker room.
The game was back-and-forth in the second half, but the Wildcats forced the Cardinals to go to someone other than Macy Ray. Ray hit six three-pointers in the first half for UIW and hit the first three of the third period, finishing with seven for the game.
Alyssa Adams hit huge free throws in the second half, and with ACU going with a four-guard set, Adams played a big roll going 2-of-4 at the line.

Stat Pack

Wright finished with 23 points, marking her fifth consecutive 20-point game for the senior and the seventh in the last eight games. Wright finished six rebounds and added five assists as well. Wright went 8-of-10 at the line.
McLeod's 18 points are the most this season against a Division I opponent, and has tallied double-digit efforts in seven of the last 10. It was a heroic effort from the junior, hitting the biggest shot of her season to send it to OT. Free throws were huge for McLeod as well, hitting 10-of-12 at the stripe, and 7-of-8 9 in overtime.
Golightly finished with 15 and hit all five free throws to go along with seven rebounds.
Ducat tallied 12 points and hauled in seven boards as well.
ACU hits 24 or more wins in the regular season for the first time since the 2015-16 season, and just the fifth time in program history.

Up Next

ACU is the No. 3 seed in the conference tournament, and will await the winner of No. 6 seed Nicholls and No. 7 seed UIW. Tipoff at the Leonard E. Merrell Center in Katy, Texas will take place at 1:30 p.m. on Friday, March 13.