By Jeff Craig, Sports Writer
The women’s basketball team beat Texas A&M-Kingsville Tuesday night 78-70 in a game that was not as close as the final score indicated.
The Wildcats got off to a hot start against Kingsville, holding them without a made field goal for the first 6:42 minutes of the game. The Wildcats complemented their stingy defense with some good early shooting. With just more than four minutes gone in the game, guard Kelsey Darby knocked down a jump shot to give ACU a 13-1 lead from which they would never look back. In January, ACU defeated the Javelinas 71-62, but this time head coach Shawna Lavender saw many improvements.
“I was very pleased with the way the girls came out ready to play against Kingsville,” Lavender said. “We hit some shots, and we did a good job on defense forcing them into some shots. The key to the game was how we started; it gave the girls a lot of confidence.”
The Wildcats have now won six consecutive games and have a 15-7 record. The Wildcats’ conference record also improved to 6-1 on the season. Meanwhile, the Javelinas’ overall record fell to 13-10, and their conference record dipped to 3-5.
The Wildcats continued their recent trend of exhibiting a well-balanced attack by having six players with more than seven points. However, Tuesday night belonged to the Meyer sisters. Forwards Jamie and Jody Meyer combined for more than half of the Wildcats’ points. Jody Meyer scored 12 points, while her sister Jamie scored 32 points. Jamie’s 32-point game was the second-highest individual total by a Wildcat this season, bettered only by her 49-point explosion against Texas Women’s on Jan. 5. Lavender was pleased with the play of her forward against the Javelinas.
“She played great all the way around,” Lavender said. “Her three-point shot was falling, and she was scoring inside. She hit some turnaround jumpers and played very aggressive defense.”
Lavender was also pleased with the play of point guard Kat Kundmueller. Kundmueller dished out nine assists while committing only one turnover. Lavender described Kundmueller as having exhibited good ball control against a team that used a lot of traps.
The Wildcats’ next game will be Saturday in San Angelo against Angelo State. Tipoff is scheduled for 6 p.m. at the Junell Center.
