ABILENE – Half the team is new, two iconic starters are gone and the Abilene Christian women's basketball team is picked to make the field of a whittled-down Western Athletic Conference Tournament next March.
ACU moves on to the 2023-24 season without last year's leading scorer
Maleeah Langstaff and long-time Cat
Madi Miller but you'll have to excuse this year's team for being excited about the prospects of the upcoming season.
The Cats were a solid .500 team last year at 15-15 overall and 9-9 in the league but are picked to finish sixth by the league coaches this preseason – up one spot from where ACU finished last season.
Fans have reason to believe as well.
Aspen Thornton is back after averaging 12.1 points and totaling 70 assists and 40 steals a year ago. The team also returns starters
Bella Earle (6.1 ppg, 6.0 rpg) and
Addison Martin (12.1 ppg, 6.0 rpg).
Zoe Jackson and
Claire Graham played every game last season and
Tristin Keller and
Brooke Jessen also return after playing in half of last season's games.
Those seven returning players are joined by three transfers and four freshmen.
Transfers
Kenadi Rising (5-11, G/F),
Yle Exposito Perez (5-7, G) and
Clare Traeger (5-10, F) bring experience to the team. Traeger started 29 games last season at Binghamton, averaging 8.8 points and eight rebounds per game. Exposito was an All-Conference guard at Trinidad State, averaging 17.7 points, 4.5 rebounds and 2.5 steals. Rising averaged 13.6 points, 6.8 rebounds and 2.3 steals at Highland Community College.
Former Bixby High School (Okla.) teammates
Meredith Mayes (6-2, C) and
Gracy Wernli (5-9, G) join the team along with
Payton Hull, a 5-10 guard from Peaster High School, and
Emma Troxell, a 5-11 forward from Bushland High School.
That freshman group has the potential to be a special class.
"The great anticipation of our freshman class was warranted!" said ACU Head Coach
Julie Goodenough. "This group is talented on the court, hard workers, wonderful teammates, and good students! The fans will love how hard they play! Gracy and Payton and excellent three-point shooters and have good court vision. Emma is an athletic forward who can create shots for others but drains threes as well. Meredith is ready to play this season after being sidelined all last year due to an injury. She has put in the work and really hit the ground running in preseason."
The freshman class, the talented transfers and the proven returning players are the recipe for one of the team's biggest strengths.
"Going into the season we believe our depth will be a strength," said Goodenough. "As we get a few games under our belt we will know more about the best rotations and lineups we will have in game situations. Scoring is our point of emphasis, so sharing the ball and reading the defense are crucial to our success."
Last year, the Wildcats averaged better than eight three-pointers per game and this year's version expects nothing less.
"We like to spread the floor out and drive in for layups, or force help-side rotations and kick to three-point shooters, so it is best if everyone on the court feels comfortable shooting threes," said ACU Head Coach
Julie Goodenough. "All of our guards are good shooters and we added three-point threats with the addition of forwards Kenadi, Emma, and Clare."
While that threat outside will draw plenty of attention, ACU also has a strong inside presence.
Addison Martin averaged 12 points and six rebounds last season.
"Addi is definitely a force to be reckoned with," Goodenough said. "She proved last season to be one of the most dominant inside players in the WAC. Meredith has really come on strong and will provide depth in the center position."
Most of the team can contribute to the team this season with Earle and Thornton ready to lead.
"Bella and Aspen were consistent scoring threats last season and will be expected to have a shot-ready mentality at all times," said Goodenough. "Payton has already proven to have an elusive inside-out scoring skill set. Last season, we had four double-digit scorers and believe that we will be a necessity again for success this season. Addi, Aspen, and Bella are our most experienced players and will be relied on to lead by example in games. This should translate into being true to our system, playing good team basketball, working for the most open shot, sharing the ball, and being an aggressive offensive rebounding team. Claire played significant minutes as a freshman and we will need her to be more of a scorer this year."
Defensively, the Cats prefer playing man-to-man but are prepared to adjust as needed.
"We love man-to-man defense and work on it daily," Goodenough said. "We do play some zone and also extend our defense into the backcourt if we believe that will help us get the ball back quicker. Gracy, Payton, and Zoe are three players who we believe will be really good on-ball defenders this season."
The Wildcats open up their regular season schedule on Nov. 6 at home against Southwest Assemblies of God, then have two more home games on November 9 against Rice University and then on Nov. 16 against Big Country rival Angelo State.
That's the beginning of a schedule that will prepare ACU for the grind of the Western Athletic Conference season.
"This is the most difficult schedule we have had in the DI era," said Goodenough. "Twenty WAC games, playing all teams home and home, and the addition of the CUSA challenge, have automatically created 22 high-level games for us. We like to open the season at home which we are doing again this year and actually playing our first 3 games at home. We are excited to play in the Naval Academy Thanksgiving event and play against teams from out of our region.
Following the three straight home games, the Wildcats head to Annapolis, Maryland for their first-ever appearance in the Navy Classic, playing Towson University on November 25 followed by the Navy Midshipmen on November 26.
The Wildcats end November starting Western Athletic Conference play on November 29 at home against UTA followed by a road matchup at Stephen F. Austin on Dec. 2.
Throughout December the Wildcats will play four nonconference games, highlighted by a Power Five matchup and the WAC-Conference USA Challenge.
The Wildcats visit Texas Christian University on Dec. 5 before returning home on Dec. 11 to play in-town foe, McMurry. Then the WAC-CUSA Challenge begins with ACU playing Western Kentucky in Bowling Green, Kentucky, and concludes with a home game on Dec. 30 against Louisiana Tech.
The ringing in of the new year will also ring in the return to conference play for the Wildcats. The team restarts conference play on the road at the University of Texas- Rio Grande Valley on Jan. 6.
Then ACU welcomes teams and fans back to Moody Coliseum on Jan. 11 with the arrival of Grand Canyon, followed by games on Jan. 13 and 18 against California Baptist and Tarleton State.
ACU will hit the road once again for four straight games starting on Jan. 20 with a game at UTA. They follow that with a trip to Utah to take on Utah Tech on Jan. 25 then Southern Utah, last year's WAC tournament champion, on Jan. 27 before returning to Texas in February to play at Tarleton on Feb. 1.
Following the road trip, the Wildcats make a four-game homestand, beginning on Feb. 8 against Seattle University, followed by games on Feb. 10, 15 and 17 against Utah Valley, UTRGV and SFA. The Wildcats then make a trip to the West Coast to play at CBU on Feb. 22 and GCU on Feb. 24.
The Wildcat's final home games take place Feb. 29 against Southern Utah then March 2 against Utah Tech. They will finish the regular season on the road against UVU and Seattle U on March 7 and March 9.
Then for a chance to bring home some hardware and return to the NCAA Tournament, the Wildcats head to the WAC Tournament on March 13-16 in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Tickets are on sale now at acusports.com/tickets.
