By Joel Weckerly, Sports Editor
Following a fourth-place finish in the Disney Division II Tipoff Classic last weekend, the women’s basketball team looks to face stiff competition again Saturday in its first home game of the year. The Wildcats welcome the Houston Flames, a semi-professional team in the Women’s Southwest Basketball League, to Moody Coliseum for an exhibition game at 7 p.m.
“Exhibition games tend to be against teams with some talent,” head coach Wayne Will-iams said. “The players are usually more physical. They’re go-nna challenge us, especially in rebounding and defense.”
The Flames finished third in the WSBL last season with a 10-4 record. The team lost in the semifinals of the league playoffs to the eventual runner-up Houston Jaguars.
“A lot of semi-pro teams play a Division I/Division II exhibition schedule,” Williams said. “The Jaguars tend to play D-I schools all over the country.”
The Wildcats enter the game with a 1-2 record after knocking off St. Leo’s (Fla.) but falling to North Dakota State and South-west State (Minn.) in the Disney tourney.
Sophomore forward Stepha-nie Riles, a transfer from Empo-ria State, led ACU in the Tipoff by averaging 15 points per game.
“We wanted to win the tournament,” Riles said, “but it was just a step to show us where we need to improve. We watched a lot of film from the tournament, and we’ll just try again on Saturday.”
Williams said the best thing the team is doing right now is controlling the flow of the game on both offense and defense, but he said the biggest negative he sees is the team’s inconsistency thus far.
Against N.D. State, ACU led 34-19 at halftime but ended up losing 77-64 in overtime.
“It felt like we had one bad half in every game,” Williams said. “It really cost us against North Dakota State and South-west State. We played good ball in the first half, but it just didn’t continue in the second.”
In order to combat this, Riles said the team needs to control the momentum of the game and cut down on turnovers.
“We need to take care of the ball and set the tempo for the game,” she said.
The challenge the Flames bring to ACU gives it another test of where it stands and where it needs to be, Riles said.
“At both the tournament and this game coming up, we’re playing against some good competition,” Riles said. “It’s going to expose some things that we need to work on.”
Which is exactly what the Cats will shoot for in Saturday’s matchup with Houston.
“The odds are against us, but we’re going to play as hard as we can,” Riles said.
