The ACU Wildcats ended their WNIT action in the consolation bracket with two wins against two quality teams in University of Nebraska at Omaha and UT Rio Grande Valley.
This weekend also pushes the women’s basketball team’s home winning streak to 20 games.
ACU played Omaha on Friday night in what proved to be a close back-and-forth thriller.
There was a total of 20 lead changes and seven ties in the game to keep fans on the edge of their seat throughout the game.
The majority of the lead changes came from the first half, as fans saw the lead exchange hands 13 times.
The Mavericks went into the half with a 34-33 lead in thanks to their 8-16 three-point shooting. But even with the Mavericks three-ball action, they never managed to pull away from the Wildcats as their biggest lead on the night came was only four points.
The third quarter was an extension of the first half, Omaha shot from behind the arc well, going three of five, but the Wildcats were a little more consistent in their shooting from the rest of the field, as they shot eight out of 14 to keep within four of the Mavericks.
The fourth quarter was a different story; Omaha’s three shooting went cold as they would finish the game on 0-5 from behind the arc.
This allowed ACU to pull ahead and grab their largest lead of the night, seven points, with eight seconds left. ACU won the game 73-66.
Free throws were the biggest deciding factor in this game. ACU hit 60.9 percent from the free-throw line, going 14 out of 23. The Mavericks shot a dismal seven out of 19 for a 36.8 percentage from the line.
The Mavericks hit 11 out of their 26 three-pointers in the game, but the Wildcats used more consistent shot across the floor, shooting 50 percent on 25 out of 50 shots on the night to take down Omaha.
Sydney Shelstead and Lizzy Dimba finished as the leading scorers for the team, notching 18 apiece, while Sierra Allen would provide 12 points coming off the bench.
UTRGV would use a strong first half to beat North Texas 74-69 to advance to play the Wildcats. North Texas would play Omaha.
This game started off much like the last as ACU and UTRGV would only be separated by one-point heading into the half, with the 32-31 advantage in favor of the Wildcats.
From here, ACU would use a hot start and solid defense to go on a 13-0 run right out of the gate at the start of the third quarter, to go ahead 45-31 in the contest.
The Vaqueros were able to gain some ground back, as they would force six turnovers in a five-minute period. UTRGV was able to make it a game again, as they came back and were only down four, 55-51, with just over four minutes remaining in the game.
The Wildcats would come alive as they would finish the contest on a 15-3 run to win the game 70-54.
Shelstead would lead all scorers with 26 points, with the help of setting the school’s single game record of 15 free-throws. Shelstead also added 14 rebounds, to give her, her second double-double on the season. Sara Williamson was also solid on the night with her stat line of 16 points, seven rebounds, five assists, and one block.
Both teams shot about even, with ACU shooting 34.5 percent and UTRGV shooting 32.8 percent.
ACU moves to 3-1 on the season, as they have a week in-between games before they go take on Texas A&M (2-0) on Saturday, who sits just outside the AP Poll Top 25, but is ranked No.24 by the USA Today Coaches Poll.
