No. 4 seed Abilene Christian (20-11, 9-7) vs. No. 5 seed Utah Valley (17-11, 9-7)
Las Vegas | Orleans Arena
WAC Basketball Tournament - Quarterfinals
Thursday, March 13 at 2 p.m. (CT) / 12 p.m. (PT)
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LAS VEGAS - Abilene Christian women's basketball kicks off postseason play at the Western Athletic Conference Tournament in Las Vegas, where it will compete for an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. The No. 4 seed Wildcats will open against No. 5 Utah Valley at 2 p.m. Thursday at Orleans Arena.
In its fourth season in the conference, ACU is searching for its first-ever win in the WAC Tournament after coming up short on its first three visits. The Wildcats will also be playing for a season series win over the Wolverines after both teams split their first two meetings of the year.
Utah Valley eked out a 64-63 victory in double overtime at Moody Coliseum on Jan. 4 before ACU responded with a 71-62 win in Orem, Utah on March 6. The Wildcats closed the regular season with a 70-57 loss at Grand Canyon on March 8, while the Wolverines beat Tarleton State, 75-58.
Leading the charge for ACU are senior
Bella Earle and sophomore
Meredith Mayes, who earned All-WAC First Team and All-WAC Second Team honors, respectively, on Monday. Earle is the third Wildcat to receive First Team recognition in the past four years and also became ACU's first-ever addition to the WAC All-Defensive Team.
Earle has been a Swiss Army Knife for ACU, leading the team with 14.5 points, 7.3 rebounds, 4.3 assists and 2.4 steals per game. The league leader with 34.8 minutes per game, she is third in the WAC in rebounding, fourth in assists and steals and seventh in scoring.
Earle is averaging 17.3 points in her last four outings and is coming off a double-double against Utah Valley last week with 26 points and 11 rebounds.
The Corinth native is the only player in the Wildcats' Division I history to accrue at least 1,100 points, 700 rebounds and 375 assists. Earle's 1,186 points are seventh in the program record books, while her 749 boards and 388 assists are fourth and second, respectively.
Mayes has surged in her sophomore season, averaging 10.3 points, 7.3 rebounds, 1.5 steals and a team-best 1.2 blocks per game. She leads ACU with 3.3 offensive rebounds per contest and a shooting percentage of 60.3%. Mayes' offensive rebounds and blocks each rank second in the WAC, while her total rebounds are fourth.
The Bixby, Okla. product has stepped up in conference play with 13.4 points per game alongside 7.6 boards, 1.5 steals and 1.2 blocks. Mayes' 63.4% shooting clip in league matchups is the best in WAC.
Mayes had a streak of 11 games in a row with 11 points or more snapped against the Wolverines last week when they limited her to three points. After scoring just two points at Grand Canyon, she'll aim to regain her momentum with
Emma Troxell, who hasn't reached double digits in three games.
The Wildcats, though, have seen increased production from both
Breanna Davis and
Natalia Chavez. Davis is averaging 12.5 points in her last two games, while Chavez is coming off a 10-point effort versus the Lopes, her most in a conference matchup this season. She's hit a three-pointer in five straight games.
Utah Valley is led by three all-conference players of its own. Kylee Mabry was named Co-Sixth Player of the Year, Tahlia White earned All-Defensive Team accolades and Cambree Blackham received All-Freshman Team honors.
Mabry has come off the bench in each of her 25 games this season while averaging 8.1 points and 2.3 steals for a Wolverines squad with the second-most steals per game in the country.
White leads Utah Valley with 2.4 steals per contest, good for third in the WAC. She's paced the Wolverines with 12.1 points per game, while her 15.4 points per conference matchup are fourth-most in the league. White's 40.4% field goal percentage and 78.1% free throw clip against WAC opponents are seventh and fourth in the conference, respectively.
Blackham registered 4.6 points, 1.8 assists and 1.1 steals per game in her rookie campaign. She surpassed those averages in the Wolverines' loss to the Wildcats with seven points, four assists and three steals. White recorded 12 points, four boards and two blocks.
ACU carries the WAC's No. 2 field goal percentage at 43.4% into the tournament, where it will meet Utah Valley's No. 2 field goal percentage defense at 39.1%. Both squads are some of the league's best at creating chaos with opposing offenses with the Wolverines in the nation's top 10 at 13.9 steals and 23.7 turnovers forced per game. The Wildcats are in the top 30 in both statistics with 10.7 steals and 21.6 turnovers forced.
Shooting hasn't been Utah Valley's strong suit with a 39.0% clip from the field and a 27.6% rate from three-point range while hitting 67.5% of its free throws. Yet the Wolverines have responded with a WAC-best 13.9 offensive rebounds per game.
Thursday's matchup can be streamed on ESPN+ with Adam Young, Brandi Poole and Kendra Sheehan (sidelines) on the call. International viewers can watch on
WACInternational.tv, while those in Abilene can tune in to
101.7 FM The Patriot as
Grant Boone calls the action.
