'Cats and 'Kats collide Wednesday night

HUNTSVILLE, Texas - The Wildcat women's basketball team will play back-to-back scheduled days of the Southland Conference season for the first time on Wednesday, Jan. 20 when it battles the Sam Houston Bearkats at the Bernard G. Johnson Coliseum. ACU (9-2, 2-0 SLC) looks to start 3-0 in league play for the sixth straight season. The game will air on ESPN+ and on 102.7 The Bear.

TICKET UPDATE: Fans wishing to attend the game at Sam Houston must purchase tickets prior to noon on gameday by logging on to GoBearkats.com or by calling the SHSU ticket office at (936) 294-1729. The Johnson Coliseum capacity is limited to 1,218 fans. All fans purchasing a ticket will have a seat assignment on their ticket and are required to sit in the designated upper or lower reserved seat. No walk-up tickets are available for purchase. Those on the visitor pass list for ACU will enter gates 20 and 21 and will be seated in sections Q and R. All fans must wear face coverings.

FOLLOW THE GAME

SERIES HISTORY

This will be the 25th meeting between the schools, with ACU holding a sizable 17-7 lead. Since ACU joined the Southland in 2013, the Wildcats have beaten Sam Houston 10 times, including five of the last six games. The two teams met 11 times from 1980-84, but did not meet again until the re-join of the Southland eight years ago. The two will meet a lot in the future as well, with both moving to the Western Athletic Conference next season.

ACU STORYLINES

• GREAT START: The Wildcats are off to a stellar 9-2 start, and come in receiving votes in the College Insider Mid Major Top 25 poll.
• 'CATS HOLD ON LATE TO TOP LADY LIONS: ACU and SLU went back and forth the entire game, with ACU holding no more than a five-point lead, until the final minute. ACU scored the last six in the contest to hold on, 80-72. Anna McLeod led the way with 23 points and had a key steal with a minute left to push the lead out to five. ACU hit a few free throws late to win by eight.
• DOUBLE-DOUBLE MACHINE: Senior Alyssa Adams has recorded four double-doubles this season, including a three-game stretch vs. UAB, at Stetson, and at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. The San Antonio native has seven for her career. She becomes the third Division I player for the Wildcats to record three consecutive double-doubles. Suzzy Dimba did so on Jan. 22, 24, and 26 in 2015, and Sydney Shelstead followed up a month later, on Feb. 21, 25, and 28.
• COACH GOODENOUGH'S MILESTONES: Head coach Julie Goodenough earned her 460th career win UT Permain, and now has a 466 wins in her hall-of-fame career and 177 with ACU.
• SHARP SHOOTERS: ACU's 312 three-point field goals attempted rank eighth nationally, while the 111 three-pointers made rank third in the country.

NEWS: ACU headed to the WAC!

SCOUTING SAM HOUSTON

• The Bearkats (6-4, 2-2 SLC) have won two straight after dropping their first two conference games to Nicholls and Southeastern Louisiana.
• The game pits the top two scoring teams in the Southland. Sam Houston averages 81.8 points per game, while ACU scores it at an 80.6 per game clip.
• Amber Leggett is scoring 18.8 points per game after finishing second in the league a year ago in scoring. Only three times in program history has a Bearkat led the SLC in scoring with Shernise Robertson doing it in both 2016 and 2016, and Alice Johnson doing so in 2003.
• Sam Houston is 23-8 at Bernard G. Johnson Coliseum in the last 2 seasons under Ravon Justice.