OREM, Utah - Abilene Christian women's basketball kicks off a crucial final week of the regular season against Utah Valley at the UCCU Center at 7 p.m. Thursday. Tied for fifth place in the Western Athletic Conference, the Wildcats have the opportunity to rise through the standings ahead of the WAC Tournament in Las Vegas next week.
ACU helped its cause last week in grinding out wins over Tarleton State and UT Arlington, both ranked ahead of the Wildcats. Like ACU, Utah Valley has also won three in a row after beating the bottom three teams in the conference. The Wildcats and the Wolverines are tied in the standings, with each carrying an 8-6 WAC record.
Thursday will bring a rematch of one of the closest games of the conference season when the teams began WAC play against each other on Jan. 4. ACU and Utah Valley remained neck-and-neck through 45 minutes of action to force double overtime, where the Wolverines narrowly prevailed, 64-63.
Emma Troxell and
Meredith Mayes scored 12 and 10 points, respectively, for the Wildcats, with Mayes finishing just shy of a double-double with nine rebounds. Each team committed a season high in turnovers, with ACU giving the ball up 31 times but converting 28 Utah Valley turnovers into 30 points.
Both squads thrive on forcing turnovers and making their opponents uncomfortable. The Wolverines lead the league in both steals and turnovers forced per game at 14.1 and 24.0, respectively. They're top-10 in the nation in both categories.
The Wildcats aren't far behind with 10.9 steals and 21.8 turnovers forced per game, both good for third in the conference.
Bella Earle is fifth in the WAC with 2.4 steals per conference matchup, and she'll duel with Utah Valley's Tahlia White, the WAC's co-leader with 2.9 steals per game. Kylee Mabry adds 2.3 steals per contest.
The similarities continue as each team features a duo in the conference's top-10 in rebounds per game. Mayes and Earle are fourth and fifth, respectively, in combining for 15.7, while Danja Stafford Collins, at the top of the leaderboard, and Halle Nelson total 16.9.
Leading the WAC in allowing just a 38.7% shooting percentage to their opponents, the Wolverines will be tasked with stopping a Wildcat offense sinking 43.7% of its shots, the second-highest rate in the conference over the course of the season.
Mayes has led those efforts with the best shooting percentage in WAC matchups at 67.2%, allowing her to score 15.0 points per game. Earle joins her in the top 10 of conference scoring with 13.5 points per game, good for ninth.
Emma Troxell is the final Wildcat in the top 20, registering in 18th with 12.0 points.
White surpasses each of them in third place with 16.0 points per WAC game, but is the only Wolverine in the top 20.
Finally, both squads are in the league's top three in offensive rebounding, with Utah Valley leading the way with 14.4 per game. Nelson and Stafford Collins are the catalysts behind it as they average a combined 7.5 offensive boards, but Mayes leads the WAC with 4.0 per game. Earle adds 2.0 per game to add to ACU's 12.3 offensive rebounding average.
Thursday's matchup can be streamed on ESPN+.
