The women fell to the Lamar Cardinals 63-60 Wednesday in what could be a preview for the conference championship a month from now.

Senior guard Chastadie Barrs showed why she’s the three-time defending conference defensive player of the year Wednesday night as she finished with five steals. She was also a force on offense with seven assists and 13 points.

Early in the game, both teams struggled to get shots falling as the Cardinals and Wildcats shot under 25 percent in the first quarter. At the end of the first half, ACU trailed 27-24 to the Cardinals.

Junior guard Breanna Wright came to life as she finished with a season high in both points (27) and an impressive seven three-pointers.

“I think we did a really good job in the first three quarters attacking and making that extra pass we needed to get some shots on offense,” Wright said.

At the end of three quarters, ACU took a 42-34 lead led by the defensive efforts of junior center Lexi Ducat and junior forward Dominique Golightly who combined for 18 rebounds. Ducat finished with 12 points finishing 6-12 on the evening.

In the fourth quarter, the Cardinals came to life offensively scoring 29 points, more than their total at halftime. Lamar hit five three-pointers in that final period marching their way back. Senior guard Moe Kinard led the way for the Cardinals scoring 18 points off of 6-12 shooting including three three-pointers.

Trailing 63-60 in the final seconds of the game, the Wildcats gave the ball to Golightly, but ultimately missed her three-point attempt finishing 1-8 behind the arc.

The Wildcats entered Moody Coliseum second place in the Southland conference trailing only the Lamar Cardinals. Now with that loss, ACU trails by three games. The Cardinals have now won 12 games in a row and haven’t lost a regular season conference game since early January of 2018.

Lamar will travel to Nacogdoches to face Stephen F. Austin at 2 p.m. Saturday. Meanwhile the Wildcats will hope to bounce back this weekend against Sam Houston State. The tip is scheduled for 3:30 p.m.