ABILENE – Abilene Christian briefly lost a 21-point lead but finished strong for a 76-69 win over UT-Rio Grande Valley on Thursday.
Addison Martin was strong with 11 field goals in 17 attempts, using some finesse under the basket and knocking down jumpers.
Bella Earle had a double-double with 17 points and 10 rebounds.
ACU dominated the first quarter with 47 percent shooting and hit four three-pointers on the way to a 25-6 lead. The Wildcats added the first basket of the second period for a 27-6 advantage but the Vaqueros began chipping away from there.
By halftime, ACU's lead was trimmed to 35-29 and it was a 54-53 game heading into the fourth quarter.
UTRGV took its only lead with 8:34 left in the game, 60-59, but the ACU defense stiffened and the Vaqueros went almost eight minutes without a field goal.
"We couldn't have scripted that start any better," said ACU Head Coach
Julie Goodenough. "We forced turnovers that gave us extra possessions and our player really shared the ball well. We talked before the game about how we need to be pounding the ball into Addie in the paint. And she was doing what Addie does in the paint, and we got good looks from the perimeter as well. I mean, everything was just rolling for us offensively in that first quarter.
"We had some defensive lapses in the second quarter we were leaving people open or we wouldn't get a block out and rebound and they took full advantage of that. It was another opportunity for our players to understand that if you are one step off of where you need to be, teams can capitalize on that."
The Wildcats went on a 12-5 run to build the lead back to 71-65 with 48 seconds to go with Martin and
Payton Hull getting four points each.
"I never sensed any panic from our team and the big intangible that Addie brings to us, now that she's back, is she's such a good vocal leader for us on the court. Just making sure everybody knows what defense we are in and things like that.
Hull joined Martin and Earle in double figures, scoring 13 points. Martin was just shy of a double-double, hauling in nine rebounds.
Known primarily as a three-point shooting team, the Wildcats outscored UTRGV 32-14 in the paint on Thursday.
The win lifts the Wildcats to 11-11 overall and 7-6 in the Western Athletic Conference. ACU hosts Stephen F. Austin at 1 p.m. on Saturday.
