The Wildcats won their fourth game in a row on Saturday, defeating the Central Arkansas Sugar Bears, 93-71, just in time for Senior Day.
“It was a well-played game,” said head coach Julie Goodenough. “It was an emotional day, especially since we have such a great group. These seniors invested so much in this program, and we wanted today to be a nice day to celebrate them.”
Many players contributed in different ways to help the Wildcats secure the win against Central Arkansas. Junior forward Makayla Mabry led both teams in rebounding with 10, to go along with nine points and one assist. Junior guard Anna McLeod had another strong game for ACU, scoring 11 points and tallied four rebounds, three assists and one steal.
Senior guard Dominique Golightly and senior forward Lexie Ducat found themselves in double figures on their Senior Day. Golightly brought in 14 points along with four rebounds. Ducat scored 15 points for the Wildcats, also adding in four rebounds and two assists to her total.
Leading the way for ACU was senior guard Breanna Wright, who filled up the stat sheet for the Wildcats. Wright led both teams in scoring with 25 points on top of having eight assists, four rebounds, two steals and one block.
“It was exciting to be able to celebrate being a part of this team,” said Wright. “This is a second family to all of us. It was a great game and an honor to play.”
ACU started a run midway through the third quarter, and they did not look back. After some shooting struggles in the first half, the Wildcats finished the game shooting 61% from the field and 50% from 3-point range.
On the defensive end, the Wildcat’s defense forced the Sugar Bears to take many contested shots late in the shot clock. Central Arkansas was held to 38% shooting from the field and 15% from 3-point end.
The Wildcats’ strong offense and defense allowed for a powerful moment on the court. With a few minutes left in the fourth quarter, senior guard Pamela Herrera and senior forward Lexi Kirgan went into with fellow senior Wright, Golightly and Ducat. All five seniors were able to play together.
“We have not done that in several years,” said Goodenough. “It was cool to see those five out there at the same time. They celebrate each other’s successes all the time and are really good friends, so it was fun to have them out there for a few minutes together.”
The Wildcats start their last week of conference play on Tuesday against the top-seeded Stephen F. Austin. Catch the final home game of the season at 5:30 p.m. or tune in live on ESPN+.
“They are well-coached and do some things different from other teams in our conference,” said Goodenough. “We will get back to the drawing board and figure out what we need to do to get good shots. I feel really good about it, and I feel like we will finish strong.”
