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Alyssa Adams
Meda Bow

Women's Basketball

Adams, dominant stretch power ACU to win

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — 20 days is a long time to go between games. But, the Southland schedule began Saturday after a long wait. After trailing by as many as seven in the first half, the ACU women's basketball team got back even, took the lead, and never looked back on its way to a 73-51 win over the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Islanders at the Dugan Wellness Center. The Wildcats got another double-double performance from senior Alyssa Adams, and the defense dominated the middle part of the game en route to their second straight win. ACU opens Southland Conference play 1-0 for the sixth straight season, and moves to 8-2 on the season.

Turning Point: The second and third quarter.

  • After trailing 16-12 and falling behind by as many as seven points in the first quarter, ACU responded. The Wildcats outscored the Islanders 40-18 in the middle two periods of the game to push the lead to 52-34 heading to the fourth quarter. It included a 7-0 and a 9-1 run in the second quarter, and an 11-0 run to start the third quarter. Overall, it was a 30-3 run that broke the game open.

Key Plays

  • Trailing by seven, Adams scored on a layup to make it 16-11 with 33 seconds left in the first quarter. That got the tide turning as the teams moved to the second.
  • Paige Emborsky was a huge spark plug. The junior came off the bench and hit a big three at the 7:00 mark of the second to cut the deficit to two, 20-18.
  • Emborsky wasn't done. She scored on a layup to give ACU the lead, then extended it with another three-pointer.
  • Sarah Griswold hit a jumper with seven seconds left in the half to give ACU a 32-23 lead. A nine-point lead and a seven-point lead are very different in that situation.
  • Kamryn Mraz hit a pair of three-pointers early in the third, and another big triple came from Adams, who was on her way to another ridiculous outing.
  • Emborsky hit another big three late in the third to push the lead to 52-34 at the end of the quarter. The game was all but over at that point.

Stat Pack

  • Adams recorded her third straight double-double with a new career-high of 28 points and added 10 rebounds. She is the third Wildcat in the D1 era to record three-straight double-doubles. The other two players are Sydney Shelstead (Feb. 21, 25, 28, 2015) and Suzzy Dimba (Jan. 22, 24, 26, 2015).
  • Paige Emborsky scored a season-best 11 points on three triples, and added five rebounds.
  • Nine different Wildcats scored in the game.
  • Five players (Mraz, Anna McLeod, Katie Horyna, Madi Miller, and Taylor Morgan) tallied three assists each.
  • ACU outrebounded Corpus Christi by a slim margin of 41-40 and held a 36-32 edge in points in the paint.
  • Free throws mattered. ACU went 14-18 at the line, while Corpus was just 15-30.
  • The Wildcats hit seven three-pointers, keeping that streak alive of doing it all but once this season.
I really credit our bench with turning around the game. We were definitely in a battle with Corpus, as is always the case. We were down players and staff, and we fought really hard. Our bench helped turned a seven-point deficit into a halftime lead and it was a great team win today.
Julie Goodenough, Head Coach

Up Next
ACU was supposed to play Wednesday, Jan. 13 at home against Houston Baptist. That game has been moved to Feb. 17. The Wildcats will have a week off before returning to Abilene to host Southeastern Louisiana on Saturday, Jan. 16. It's part of a men's and women's doubleheader that gets underway at 1 p.m. The game can be seen on ESPN+ and heard on 102.7 The Bear.