Despite a slow start, the women’s basketball team used an impressive third quarter to secure their 13th straight win, 77-60, over Houston Baptist. The Wildcats move to 17-2 overall and 8-0 in conference.
After a media timeout with just under five minutes left in the third quarter, junior guard Alexis Mason pushed the lead to 43-34 with her second three-pointer of the game. The Wildcats went on to outscore the Huskies 17-4 over those last five minutes and build a 22-point lead heading into the final quarter.
Junior forward Suzzy Dimba, finished the contest with 11 points and eight rebounds, said head coach Julie Goodenough told them during the timeout they needed to get back to ‘Wildcat’ basketball.
ACU was outscored 18-13 in the fourth quarter, but only after growing the lead to 28 points after a free throw by freshman McKenzie Martin.
The Wildcats found themselves in foul trouble early on, as four out of the five starters had picked up three fouls at the five-minute mark in the third quarter.
Fortunately for the Wildcats, the bench put together a strong performance, outscoring HBU 22-7. Senior Paris Webb led the way with seven points, five assists and four rebounds off the bench in a season high 25 minutes of action. Sophomore Alyssa Echols added six points and six rebounds on a perfect night of shooting.
“The foul trouble really created some interesting lineups out on the court and I can’t credit our bench enough,” Goodenough said. “Our subs came in and they were ready to go and once we kind of just settled down and got into the flow, we did a tremendous job. “
HBU came into the game as the fourth best rebounding team in the conference, but ACU created a plus 23 margin, out-rebounding the Huskies 50-27.
“We knew coming into this game they were really good rebounders.” Dimba said. “So we worked a lot on rebounding and knew that our post players were gonna have to make sure we blocked out, so they can’t get rebounds and put them back up because that’s how they score a lot.”
Mason quietly led the way offensively for the Wildcats with 18 points, but also added 11 rebounds for her first career double-double.
With their 17th win, the Wildcats match last season’s win total and remain perfect at home this season (8-0). ACU continues to sit atop the Southland at 8-0, but Central Arkansas (17-2, 7-1) remains just a game back.
“I’m just really proud of our players, they did a great job tonight,” Goodenough said. “A great example of just how crazy some of these Southland Conference games are.”
The team resumes play this Saturday as part of a men’s and women’s doubleheader against Lamar. Tip-off is at 2 p.m. for the women and the men will follow right after at 4 p.m.
