KATY, Texas -- Freshman
Taylor Morgan scored a career-high 16 points,
Anna McLeod added another 19, but the ACU women's basketball team saw their season come to a close on Thursday in the second round of the 2021 Hercules Tires Southland Conference Tournament. The No. 7 seed Wildcats (14-10, 6-7 SLC) dropped a 67-57 game to No. 6 seed Nicholls (11-13, 9-7 SLC) to end their season, but ACU battled to the very end at the Merrell Center. Despite the loss, ACU ends its season with a fourth-consecutive trip to the Southland Tournament, and has always won at least one game each time down.
Turning Point: The second half.
The Wildcats led 30-24 at halftime, but the Colonels scored 43 points in the second half, and limited ACU to just 27 points on 8-for-29 shooting, including 2-for-17 from the three-point line. Nicholls hit key shot after key shot, and even when ACU got it within two points three different times, the Colonels hit three-pointers to answer and push the lead back out. Nicholls shot 50% (13-26) from the floor in the final 20 minutes including 6-for-11 from distance.
Key Plays
- 1Q 7:38 |
Madi Miller scored the first points of the game for ACU, hitting a three-pointer.
- 1Q 3:48 | It was a low-scoring game from start-to-finish, and it took a while to get going Thursday. McLeod hit ACU's second basket, a three to go up 6-5.
- 1Q 2:30 | The first media timeout did not come until 7:30 into the game.
- 1Q 0:32 | Morgan buried a triple to give ACU the lead after a quarter of play.
- 2Q 3:32 | Leading 22-20, the 'Cats went on an 8-2 run to push the lead to eight, its largest of the game, 30-22. McLeod hit two foul shots, Miller added one, Griswold hit a smooth jumper, and Morgan added a triple near the end of the half. ACU led 30-24 at the break.
- 3Q 2:36 | Trailing 44-37,
Madi Miller hit a three-pointer to get the Wildcats back in it. The shot inspired a 9-0 run to end the third quarter. McLeod hit a triple and then scored three more on an and-one inside, and ACU led 46-44 after three quarters.
- 4Q | Nicholls hit three shots from distance in the quarter, and ACU went 0-10 from downtown in the final 10 minutes. ACU got within one possession three different times in the quarter, but Nicholls came down the next possession and hit a shot each time.
Stat Pack
- ACU shot just 33% from the floor for the game, including 22% (7-31) from behind the arc.
- McLeod scored 19 points, but was limited to 6-for-21 from the floor and 2-for-14 from distance.
- Morgan scored a career-high 16 points on 5-of-9 from the floor, and hit two big three-pointers as well. The freshman had a phenomenal two days in Katy, and finished Thursday with four rebounds, two assists, and two steals. The Fort Worth native finished with 25 points, seven rebounds, and seven assists in two days in her first career postseason.
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Madi Miller, who was held scoreless against UIW, scored 10 points and drained a pair of triples. Miller nabbed four boards and dished out a pair of assists as well.
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Alyssa Adams scored seven rebounds and hauled in six rebounds in her final game.
- ACU out-rebounded Nicholls 34-32, but the 'Cats lost the turnover battle 18-15.
A "Good"-ie Bag of Quotes
Head Coach Julie Goodenough
"I think those last 10 minutes we had kind of dead legs and prevented us from getting stops. Credit Nicholls. They did a great job of scoring and really making us work in getting the ball down the court to get any open looks."
