FORT MYERS, Fla. - Abilene Christian women's basketball will spend Thanksgiving Week in the Sunshine State as it competes in the Elevance Health Women's Fort Myers Tip-Off in Fort Myers, Fla. The Wildcats will meet Northwestern at 10 a.m. (CT) Friday before taking on Bradley at 10 a.m. (CT) Saturday.
Both games will be played at Suncoast Credit Union Arena on the campus of Florida SouthWestern State College. Each matchup will be broadcast on ION as ACU joins an eight-team field featuring Kansas, Georgia, Missouri, Butler and Dayton.
Dorian Craft (play-by-play) and Anne O'Neil (analyst) will be on the call with Kylen Mills reporting from the sidelines.
The Wildcats' contest with Northwestern marks the program's first-ever meeting with a Big Ten Conference team. ACU's game versus Bradley also represents the Wildcats' first time facing the Braves.
ACU is aiming for its fifth and sixth consecutive wins in the state of Florida after picking up a trio of victories in Miami last season. The Wildcats beat Stetson in DeLand, Fla. in 2020. ACU is also looking for its sixth and seventh straight wins in multiple-team events (MTE) after sweeping the FIU Thanksgiving Classic and Lobo Invitational in 2024.
The battle between the Wildcats on Friday features two of the longest-tenured head coaches in women's college basketball in ACU's
Julie Goodenough and Northwestern's Joe McKeown. The duo has combined for 72 years of head coaching experience and more than 1,300 career wins.
McKeown is in his 40th season with 782 victories, while Goodenough is in the midst of her 32nd year of coaching with 543 wins. ACU's contest with Bradley will be her 400th game at the helm of the Wildcats.
The Wildcats continue to sport their best start since the 2021-22 campaign, when they won seven of their first eight games. They returned to the win column last week with a 60-51 victory at North Texas on Nov. 19. The Wildcats limited the Mean Green to a .340 field goal percentage, including just a 1-of-20 mark from three-point range.
The Wildcats lead the Western Athletic Conference in allowing just 55.0 points per game while ranking second with 76.8 points per game. ACU forces 26.4 turnovers per game to land in second in the conference and rank 11th nationwide. Its +12.0 turnover margin paces the WAC and is good for sixth in the country.
Four Wildcats — Hull, Woodson, Mayes and Troxell — rank within the conference's top 10 for points per game. Mayes averages 7.0 rebounds to rank ninth while leading the WAC with a .658 shooting percentage. Woodson (.592) and Hull (.342) are second and sixth in field goal percentage, respectively.
Breanna Davis dishes out 3.8 assists per game to stand in third in the conference, while Woodson, Hull, Mayes and Troxell are each in the top 10 for steals.
