The women’s basketball team notched their first 20-win season since moving to Div. 1 with a 67-55 victory of Sam Houston State.
The Wildcats move to 11-1 in conference and take back sole possession of first place in the Southland. ACU stands at 20-3 overall and 10-0 at conference.
ACU came out aggressive, taking a 12-6 lead halfway through the first quarter after back-to-back three-pointers by juniors Suzzy Dimba and Lizzy Dimba.
The twins combined for 12 of the Wildcat’s 19 first quarter points and finished with a total of 27, as ACU held a moderate 19-12 lead after the first quarter.
After growing the lead to 12 with 7-1 run over the first five minutes of the second quarter, Sam Houston State held the Wildcats in check until the last minute of the half when senior guard Paris Webb hit the team’s fifth three of game and sophomore forward Sierra Allen followed with a late layup to push the score to 38-23 at half.
Out of the break, junior forward Sydney Shelstead extended the lead to the largest of the game at 17 with a layup just 30 seconds into the second half. But Sam Houston again refused to go away, trimming ACU’s halftime lead by a point to trail 54-40.
The final outcome of the game was put in doubt early on in the fourth quarter as Sam Houston State’s Kamry Orr hit back-to-back three-pointers to cut the lead to just 10 with 6:18 to go. But that’s when Suzzy Dimba picked up the other half of her 14 points, as she scored seven straight to push the lead back to 17 to secure the win in the final minute.
Dimba also added nine rebounds to go along with 14 points in just 23 minutes of work.
The Bearkats would score the next five points to cut the lead to 12, but it was too little too late as the Wildcats secured the 67-55 win.
One of the many storylines of the game was the defensive effort ACU showed against the Southland’s leading scorer in Shernise Robertson. After giving up 21 points to Robertson in their first meeting, the Wildcats allowed just eight points on 2-17 shooting.
On the flip side, the Wildcats leading scorer and third leading conference scorer in junior Alexis Mason paced the team with a quiet 17 points and eight crucial rebounds. Freshman guard Sara Williamson also added four points, four rebounds and four assists in 18 minutes of play.
Williamson and her mother Sue Williamson were honored before the annual “Play4Kay“ game as a sign of support from the ACU community after Sue was diagnosed with breast cancer last semester.
Up next on the Wildcat’s schedule is a quick one-game road trip to the coast where they’ll take on Texas A&M Corpus Christi for the first time this year.
