Saturday afternoon, the Wildcats bounced back from their loss Wednesday against Stephen F. Austin defeating the University of Central Arkansas 77-70 behind a strong first half and some clutch free throw shooting near the end of the game.
Senior Guard Sara Williamson put up 22 points, her eighth consecutive game with 10 points or more, a season high 10 assists, and seven rebounds to cap off a near triple-double.
Williamson said it was a big win for the team today.
“Today’s win is huge,” Williamson said. “We don’t want to be remembered for the SFA game and we just wanted to go out and prove that we’re the better team.”
Early in the game, the Wildcats dominated inside the arc putting up 30 points in the paint just in the first half alone. Junior Center Lexie Ducat and Junior forward Dominique Golightly both had 10 points each at the midway point of the game shooting the ball at a very efficient rate.
Heading into the second half, the Wildcats led 37-23, but Central Arkansas had an answer starting the third quarter 8-9 on field goals and forcing six turnovers. ACU was held to just 11 points in that third quarter. Williamson was the only Wildcat to make a basket.
During halftime, head coach Julie Goodenough told her team the Bears would adjust in the second half.
“UCA is going to make some changes, come out of the locker room and play this half and sure enough they did,” Goodenough said. “We gave up way too many drives in the third quarter, but our players did a great job in the final stretch of the fourth quarter.”
For a short period of time, the Wildcats trailed early in the fourth quarter by one point on a couple occasions, but a clutch three pointer from Sophomore Makayla Mabry and free throws from Williamson down the stretch ultimately put the game on ice.
Up next, the Wildcats travel south to play Texas A&M-Corpus Christi this Wednesday at 7 p.m. Meanwhile, UCA travels back home for a tough matchup against Stephen F. Austin Wednesday night.
