As if a 27-point performance against Lamar wasn’t enough, sophomore point guard Breanna Wright scored a career-high 31 on the road against Sam Houston State Saturday evening in a 75-72 victory.
The Wildcats played a challenging game against the Bearkats, down 13 points in the middle of the third quarter, but put together a run to seal the win before the buzzer.
“We knew we really had to step it up in the end,” Wright said. “We eventually made our defense turn to offense, our shots started falling again and it ended up a win.”
The Bearkats had the upper hand at halftime leading 40-36, and coming out in the third quarter, Sam Houston eclipsed a 13-5 run that would give it the 13 point lead at 54-41.
Wright, however, converted on a layup and came back the next possession to hit a three-pointer sparking an 11-2 run for her team to close the gap to five points at the end of the third quarter.
Both teams scored 12 points apiece in the fourth quarter up until the 2:55 mark when freshman guard Kayla Galindo closed the deficit to two points for the Wildcats with a three-pointer, then got fouled on the next possession resulting in two completed free throws to tie the game at 68.
The women would then close the game outscoring the Bearkats 7-4 in the final two minutes. Wright converted two high-pressure free throws to put the team up by three with 12 seconds left, and eventually sealed the win after a missed three-pointer by Sam Houston.
“I have learned a lot from this team this year,” said Head Coach Julie Goodenough. “Our team showed a lot of maturity by not throwing in the towel when we went down 13.”
Wright hit an impressive seven three-pointers out of 10 attempted, along with a perfect eight for eight on free throws. Sophomore guard Dominique Golightly also reached double digits in scoring with 14 points.
With the win, the Wildcats move to 14-7 overall and 8-3 in conference, keeping its place at fourth in the standings, while Sam Houston falls to 4-16 overall and 1-10 in Southland play.
ACU will next close out a three-game road trip Wednesday evening in Louisiana against Nicholls State. Tipoff is scheduled for 6 p.m.
