SEATTLE - Abilene Christian women's basketball captured its third victory in a row with an 84-62 win over Seattle U at the Redhawk Center on Thursday night. The Wildcats returned to .500 in Western Athletic Conference play at 5-5 and improved to 16-9 overall.
ACU earned a group effort from a quartet of players that scored 14 points or more, led by
Breanna Davis with
Meredith Mayes with 17 apiece. Both players nailed five field goals, with Davis knocking down two of three attempts from three-point range for a career-high in scoring. She dished out five assists, while Mayes brought down nine rebounds with three steals.
Erin Woodson added 16 points with a trio of three-pointers to go with eight rebounds and three steals.
Emma Troxell tallied 14 points on 4-of-6 shooting, including a 2-of-3 mark from deep. The Wildcats made 10 of 20 three-point tries and were 22 of 29 at the charity stripe at 76%.
ACU has now scored 84 points in three of its last four games and is averaging 81.5 points in those four. It forced 20 Seattle U turnovers and turned them into 22 points while owning a 39-33 advantage on the boards.
The Redhawks earned a double-double from Candy Edokpaigbe with 15 points and 11 rebounds to go with four steals. Julianna Walker added 15 points from five three-pointers and Christeina Bryan had 11 points on 4-of-4 shooting.
The Wildcats shook off an ice cold start to the first quarter to grab an 18-12 lead after 10 minutes. They missed their first nine field goal attempts but sank four of their last five in the quarter while holding the Redhawks to five makes on 15 tries. Woodson paced ACU with nine points while the team nailed 8 of 10 free throws.
The lead swelled to 21 points by halftime after a second quarter where the Wildcats outscored the Thunderbirds, 31-16. Davis tallied eight points and four assists in the quarter on 3-of-3 shooting, including a 2-of-2 mark from three-point range. ACU drilled seven of 10 shots from deep and 12 of 17 field goal tries overall, a stark contrast from its 4-of-14 ledger in the first quarter.
Both squads scored 20 points in the third quarter, with Mayes and Troxell contributing seven apiece. Walker's nine points in the fourth quarter weren't enough to bridge the gap, as the Wildcats made their last three field goal attempts.
ACU continues its road trip with a two-game set in Utah against Southern Utah and Utah Tech next week. Aiming for their first winning record in WAC play this season, the Wildcats meet the Thunderbirds at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday in Cedar City, Utah.
