ACU’s stars continued to shine as the women’s basketball team smoked the Eastern New Mexico Zias 71-55 in Portales, N.M., Wednesday night.
“It’s never easy playing in Eastern,” said head coach Shawna Lavender. “You have to come out and play well right away, and I think we did that.”
The win is the fourth in a row for the Wildcats and their ninth in the past 11 games; that puts them at 11-5 overall and 1-0 in conference. Incidentally, it is also ACU’s 17th-straight victory against Eastern New Mexico, dating all the way to 2001.
Jamie Meyer again put up huge numbers despite a slow start, moving her up to fourth in the nation in scoring. Meyer started 0-5 from the floor but connected on five of her next six shots on her way to a game-high 25 points.
“As soon as she hits one, she gets her confidence going,” Lavender said. “I got her out of the game and told her to keep shooting, and they will eventually fall. We got her some close looks, and she got hot.”
Another big performer on a night highlighting the ‘Cats talent was point guard Kat Kundmueller. Leading the nation with 7.7 assists per game, Kundmueller added to that lead with nine assists Wednesday.
“Kat is one that keeps us going,” Lavender said. “She doesn’t make a lot of mistakes, and her basketball IQ is really high. She does a great job of getting the right people the ball at the right time.”
The Wildcats got down early in the game, trailing 12-4, but got the lead for good at 27-25, thanks to 8 points from Courtney Laing, who came off the bench to provide a spark for the Wildcats.
“We are playing with a lot of confidence right now,” Lavender said. “If we get behind, we keep plugging along. We expect to win every game.”
ACU will need that confidence going into the next game: a showdown with the ninth-ranked West Texas A&M Lady Buffs. The Lady Buffs are 17-1 after a win Wednesday against Texas A&M-Kingsville.
Tipoff is scheduled for 2 p.m. Saturday. The ‘Cats will look to use their home-court advantage against West Texas — and fortunately, history is on their side. ACU has beaten WT the last two times they’ve met in Moody Coliseum.
