Despite the 33-33 tie at the end of the first half, the women’s basketball team was unable to make a comeback Saturday night, leaving the two-game series against Angelo State without a win.

“I think the big thing right now is that we have not found our groove for this season said head coach Shawna Lavender. “Having two back-to-back games like this, we felt like we had a good chance of a win.”

And in both games, they did. After a heartbreaking 82-74 loss against the Rambelles that came down to the final minutes this past Tuesday, the Wildcats went into Saturday’s game on the road with hopes of a different outcome.

In the second half, ACU rallied back from a deficit as great as 10 points to take the lead. The Wildcats were up by one after a pair of free throws by Savannah Smith, making the score 55-56, but the Rambelles quickly answered with a jumper. Then with Kelsey Smith back on the free-throw line, the ‘Cats tied up the score at 57-57 with 7:14 on the clock.

“We had a chance to come back,” freshman forward Paige Parliament said.

But the momentum behind the rally was short lived, as Angelo State out-scored Abilene Christian 18-7 in the remaining minutes. Turnovers proved costly, as ACU gave up possession four times, and could only bank 2 out of the 8 shots attempted as the clock ran out with the final score 75-64, ASU.

Sophomore guard Mack Lankford led the game in points scored with a total of 22 points, followed by Angelo State freshman Haylee Oliver with 18 points. Freshman Sadie Dickinson had a career-high of 16 points off the bench, followed by Paige Parliament with 10. Forward Kelsey Smith finished with 8 points and 11 rebounds.

Angelo State out-rebounded ACU by 10, including a total of 17 offensive rebounds, and held a 28-18 bench point advantage. This game marked this season’s longest win streak by the Rambelles, two of the games being against Abilene Christian.

But the Wildcats aren’t giving up yet, as they look forward to playing Texas Women’s University at home this Saturday, Jan. 28 in Moody Coliseum. “We don’t have anything to lose,” Coach Lavender said. “It’s a scary place for a team to be, but if we are able to get leads and we a take advantage of them, we have a chance to win.”