The ACU women’s basketball team started off its season with a 91-64 win against Wayland Baptist University in Moody Coliseum Nov. 15.
Sophomore guard Alexis Mason led the team with 19 points, 13 of which came in the second half, while the Dimba twins combined for 33 points and 18 rebounds.
“It feels good just to get a game under our belt and see everybody playing,” said Julie Goodenough, head coach. “I thought the effort was really good and everyone came out and played really, really hard. We didn’t play really smart every possession, but that’ll just come with chemistry and getting lots of playing time together, but overall I was really pleased. Any win’s a good win, but it’s nice to win at home and get that first win.”
The Wildcats, who struggled offensively in the first half by shooting 37 percent, came back and scored 51 points in the second half and shot 50 percent in the second. Goodenough said regardless of the final score, WBU played tough basketball on the court and gave the Wildcats real experience playing against a good opponent early in the season.
“I thought Wayland did an excellent job crashing the boards and I think it’s going to give us good video to show that we’re not really blocking out very well,” Goodenough said. “That’s something that we’ve got to get better at, just being real physical to get rebounds.”
Ball movement was the name of the game for the Wildcats as the guards were able to keep Wayland on their toes throughout the game.
“I thought in transition, our guards did really well, pushing the ball, getting the ball down the floor and seeing open players,” Goodenough said. “I thought our post players did a good job posting up and I’d like to see our guards feed them a little bit more.”
The team scored 27 points from behind the arc and went 9-36 while two of their main three-point specialists, Mason and junior guard Whitney West, combined to go 6-19.
“We’re going to shoot three-pointers when we’re open,” Goodenough said. “We didn’t hit as many as we would’ve liked to tonight, but our guards did a really good job of being shot-ready and seeing the open shots.”
Sophomore Suzzy Dimba had a double-double with 16 points and 11 boards. West had nine points all from three-point makes.
The Wildcats’ next game will be at the University of Texas San Antonio Wednesday.
