After coming up just short against Texas Tech, the women’s basketball team got back to winning form this weekend with wins over Grand Canyon University and Eastern Michigan.
The Wildcats started the weekend with GCU, a team they lost to 70-57 two years ago. With new faces and experience under their belt, junior forward Suzzy Dimba and the rest of the Wildcats headed into the game confidently.
“From what I can remember about Grand Canyon was their athleticism,” Dimba said. “I definitely think this will be a good game and challenge for us, and we have a completely different team than we did my freshman year, and if we play Grand Canyon like we played tech, I’m very confident we’ll have a lot of success.”
Grand Canyon’s athleticism showed in the stat sheet as the teams were even in rebounds at 31, but ACU held a plus-one margin in assists and steals respectively. However, six GCU turnovers led to 15 points and the Wildcats were able to muster a 75-71 win.
Offensively ACU was led by junior forward Sydney Shelstead and sophomore forward Sierra Allen with 19 points and 18 points respectively.
In the second and final game of the Air Force classic the Wildcats took on an Eastern Michigan team, who had only lost to no. 11 ranked Kentucky on the year.
ACU came out on fire, recording 14 three-pointers on their way to a 24-point thrashing 83-59 of last year’s MAC championship runner-up. Junior Alexis Mason led the way, burying 7-16 shots from behind the arc and totaling a career-high 29 points. Mason’s previous best was 28 against George Mason a year ago.
Mason also added four rebounds, six assists and four steals, while senior point guard Whitney West totaled 20 points, seven rebounds and four assists.
Allen and Mason were both awarded Air Force Classic All-Tournament and Mason was given MVP of the tournament.
The win gives the Wildcats their fifth win in six games and moves their overall record to 6-2. ACU will enjoy a two week rest period for final exams, before heading to Cheney, Washington to take on Eastern Washington, Dec. 18.
