ABILENE, Texas — The Wildcats return to Moody Coliseum on Saturday at 12 p.m. for one of their biggest matchups of the 2024-25 schedule, a game against the North Texas Mean Green.
This will be the second time the two have matched up in program history, and the first time the two teams will face off in Abilene. In the first matchup, the Mean Green earned a 64-50 win on November 23, 2013, in Denton in the second year of head coach Julie Goodenough's tenure at ACU. The game will be part one of a double-header with men's basketball taking on Texas State also on Saturday at 2:30 p.m.
Tickets are still available HERE, but fans who can't make it to Moody can stream or listen to the game live on ESPN+ and 101.7 FM, The Patriot. Fans can also keep up with the 'Cats by following the team on X, Instagram, Facebook and acusports.com.
ACU STORYLINES:
LAST GAME: The Wildcats saw their first loss of the season on Tuesday against longtime rival Stephen F. Austin, 65-68. The Wildcats took a 10-point lead into the locker room, but the Ladyjacks climbed back to take their ninth straight win against the Wildcats.
PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Senior guard Bella Earle was announced as the WAC Player of the Week on Nov. 11 due to her performance in the first week of conference play. She finished opening week leading the conference in scoring averaging 22 points per game. Earle scored a career-high on Nov. 8 against FIU, scoring 26 points. She's also tied for first on the team in rebounding (5.5 per game) and in field goal percentage (53.8), plus is second on the team in assists per game at three after the first two games.
MIRACULOUS MAYES: Sophomore center Meredith Mayes earned her second career double of the season and accounted for the first double-double for the team this season against SFA. She earned a career-high 20 points while also grabbing a career-high 13 rebounds, all while shooting 66.7 percent from the field against the Ladyjacks.
QUEEN OF THE THREE: Junior guard Natalia Chavez currently leads ACU and the entire WAC in 3-point shooting. Chavez averages 46.7 percent from behind the arch so far this season and has made seven 3-pointers in her first three games.
AGAINST GROUP OF FIVE: The Wildcats are 1-0 against schools who are in a Group of Five Conference, which includes the American Conference, Conference USA, Mid-American Conference, the Mountain West and the Sun Belt Conference. Their first win came on November 8 against FIU from Conference USA. North Texas (American) is the second of four Group of Five games ACU played this season. Other games include Western Kentucky (CUSA) and New Mexico (Mountain West).
TOUGH STRETCH: The Wildcats begin their toughest three-game stretch of the season on Saturday. Over the next three games, the Wildcats will play two Group of Five schools and one Power 4 school. First, North Texas from the American Conference on Saturday, then they will head to Lubbock on Tuesday to play Texas Tech, who is in the Big 12. They wrap up next week at home on Thursday, Nov. 21 against Western Kentucky from Conference USA.
History with North Texas
- UNT leads the series, 1-0
- Current Streak: UNT, 1 win
- Last ACU win: n/a
- Last UNT win: Nov. 23 2013, 64-50
Scouting the Mean Green
- North Texas is 2-1 so far this season, with their most recent game being a 35-66 loss on the road against the No. 25 team in the country, Oregon. They started their first two games at home, with wins over Alcorn State and Texas Southern.
- Head coach Jason Burton is in his second year for the Mean Green, posting a 25-10 record in his first two years. Before his time at North Texas, Burton was the head coach at East Texas A&M for nine years, having a 171-90 record through his tenure with the Lions.
- Desiree Wilson leads the team averaging 13.7 points per game and shoots a team-best 50 percent from the field. She also averages 4.3 rebounds, 2.7 assists and 2.0 steals per game.
- Tommisha Lampkin averages a team-high 28.3 minutes per game and also averages a double-double with 13.3 points and 10.3 rebounds per game. Another standout is Kyla Deck, a transfer from SFA, who averages 12.3 points, 2.7 assists and a team-best 2.7 steals for the Mean Green.
#RowTheBoat #GoWildcats
