WBB opens WBI with Portland Friday evening

FRANKFORT, Ky. – The ACU women's basketball team will play in its fourth postseason at the Division I level this weekend, participating in the 2021 Women's Basketball Invitational (WBI) hosted by Kentucky State University's William Exum Center. It is the first-ever appearance in the tournament, and this year it is an eight-team bracket that includes three guaranteed games. The Wildcats (14-10, 6-7 SLC) will meet up with the Portland Pilots of the West Coast Conference in the first round on Friday at 5 p.m. ET. The other six teams in the tournament include Cleveland State, Florida International, Loyola Chicago, Manhattan, Northern Arizona, and Stetson.

NOTE: There are no fans allowed at the tournament. The games will be live streamed here. It is subscription-based, and you can pay either $10 for each day to watch, or $25 for the whole tournament.

FOLLOW THE GAME

SERIES HISTORY

This will be the second meeting between ACU and Portland, and ironically it is the second meeting in two seasons. The two scheduled a home-and-home for the 2019-20 and 2020-21 seasons, and met on Thanksgiving week in Portland in November 2019. ACU won that meeting, 76-69, behind Dominique Golightly's 17 points. The two teams were scheduled to meet this season in non-conference play in Abilene, but COVID-19 affected the scheduling. The two teams are scheduled to meet next season in Abilene to finish out that home-and-home contract.

ACU STORYLINES

• OUR POSTSEASON HISTORY: The Wildcats will make their WBI debut, and will play in their fourth postseason tournament since moving to NCAA Division I in 2013. ACU played in the WNIT in 2016 falling to UTEP, and returned in 2017 to beat Oklahoma State before losing to SMU. ACU made the run all the way to the NCAA Tournament in 2019 where they squared off with eventual national champion Baylor in Waco. This will be ACU's furthest trip (1,050 miles) to play in the postseason.
• WIN OVER UIW IN FIRST ROUND: ACU picked up an 81-70 win over UIW to open the tournament on Wednesday, and Anna McLeod matched a career-high with 28 points, and Alyssa Adams and Sarah Griswold combined for 22 points inside. ACU and UIW went back and forth in scoring for a majority of the game, but the 'Cats pulled away with an 11-0 run late in the third and into the fourth quarter. ACU finished with a defeat to Nicholls in the second round, and tallied 14 wins to qualify for the postseason with a winning record (14-10).
• ALL-CONFERENCE: Seniors Anna McLeod and Alyssa Adams were both named to the All-Southland second team on Tuesday. McLeod averaged 14.5 points per game in league competition this year, the seventh-highest total in the league, and hauled in 6.2 rebounds per game as well. McLeod totaled 10 double-digit scoring efforts and two 20-point games against league competition, and recorded back-to-back double-doubles against Lamar (28-11) and Houston Baptist (19-12). Adams was dominant on the inside, averaged 14.2 points per game against conference opponents, and hauling in a conference-best 9.6 rebounds per game. The San Antonio native tallied three double-doubles against league opponents and has eight double-digit scoring games, including three 20-point efforts. She secured 22 rebounds against Lamar, and a season-high 28 points against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.
• CLIMBING THE RECORD BOOKS: Alyssa Adams ranks second in ACU's Division I history in career field goal percentage (51.7) and has just tied Sara Williamson for second on the blocked shots list with 81. Suzzy Dimba (2013-17) has a ridiculous 194 in her one-of-a-kind career, sitting in the top spot.
• MORGAN'S GREAT TOURNAMENT: Freshman Taylor Morgan Morgan scored a career-high 16 points on 5-of-9 from the floor against Nicholls in the second round in Katy, and hit two big three-pointers as well. The freshman had a phenomenal two days at the Southland Conference Tournament, 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.
• COACH GOODENOUGH'S MILESTONES: Head coach Julie Goodenough earned her 471st career win against UIW in the first round, and her 182nd as the coach at ACU.

SCOUTING PORTLAND (12-12, 9-8 SLC)

• The Pilots will make their ninth overall postseason appearance in program history at the NCAA level. Last year, the team won the West Coast Conference Tournament title to earn an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament, but was unable to compete due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
• This is the second appearance for Portland in the WBI after earning a bid in 2010 and losing to Washington in the opening round.
• Led by All-WCC first teamers Haylee Andrews and Alex Fowler, the Pilots enter the tournament with a 12-12 record on the season. Andrews led the WCC in assists (6.0) and was fifth in scoring (16.4) and field goal percentage (.478) overall. Fowler finished third in the league in scoring (16.9), fifth in rebounding (7.5) and second in field goal percentage (.543).