The Wildcats were on the prowl for its first-ever Southland Conference tournament berth Saturday evening after a strong start in the game, but the women were stunned with a 78-76 comeback win by Southeastern Louisiana.
The women outscored the Lions in the first quarter 23-14 and even jumped out to a 17 point lead with two minutes left in the half after starting with a 21-11 run.
But the Wildcats couldn’t hang onto its lead as the team collapsed after the two-minute mark. After the women’s strong second-quarter surge, the Lions went on an incredible 13-0 run to close the first half and tighten the score at 44-40.
It didn’t get much better for the Wildcats as Southeastern Louisiana nearly doubled ACU’s 14 third-quarter points with 27, making the score 67-58 in its favor. The Lions’ senior guard Taylin Underwood contributed to most of her team’s third-quarter success accounting for 12 of its 27 points.
ACU came back to life in the fourth-quarter though, as the team tried to inch closer to the lead it lost coming out of halftime. The women were able to come within one point of the Lions at 77-76 with an 18-10 run up until the 33-second mark. With six seconds left in the game, however, Underwood was fouled and completed one of her free throws which proved to be enough as junior guard Sara Williamson couldn’t connect on a jumper before the buzzer.
Underwood was the game’s leading scorer with 23 points. She also added three rebounds and two assists in her performance. Her teammate freshman guard Morgan Carrier was also impressive coming off the bench and scoring 17 points in only 14 minutes played.
Sophomore point guard Breanna Wright and freshman guard Josie Larson led the way for the Wildcats with 16 points each. Wright also posted five rebounds, four assists and two steals.
With the loss, the women now slip to 15-9 overall and 9-5 in conference, keeping its position of fourth in the standings. The Lions improved to 7-19 overall and 6-9 in Southland play with the win.
The Wildcats will next complete its two-game road trip Wednesday evening against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, a team the women already beat 61-59 earlier in the season. Tipoff is scheduled for 7 p.m.
