ACU women’s basketball continued its dominance at home this season with a 95-55 win against the University of Texas at Permian Basin Tuesday.
“They challenged us in a lot of ways that we haven’t really challenged ourselves with while in practice,” said head coach Julie Goodenough. “It was great for us to experience different looks, ones that were completely different than what we’ve seen in the past two games.”
Defense became a significant factor in this game. Though the Wildcats started the first quarter with a significant amount of turnovers, they reduced their errors and applied more pressure to the Falcons. By the end of the game, the Wildcats forced 29 turnovers while they only had 15.
Offensively, the Wildcats were fueled by the starting five, who all scored in the double-digits. This included senior forward Alyssa Adams with 16 points and six rebounds, junior guard Madi Miller with 11 points and four assists, and sophomore center Sarah Griswold with 11 points and eight rebounds.
“We started the game with a lot of turnovers, which you never want to do that,” said Goodenough. “But our starters settled down and led us through the first half. They all proved that they could score in our system, and that was good to see. As for defense, our players did a nice job of going in and out of different defensive looks, and that served as a good experience for us.”
Sophomore guard Kamryn Mraz had a career-high night with 14 points, four assists, four rebounds and one steal.
“She did a great job,” said Goodenough. “Kam has not played very much for us since she has been hurt for the last two years. She found herself in some very challenging situations, but she handled them very well.”
Leading the way in scoring for the Wildcats was senior guard Anna McLeod. She totaled 22 points while shooting 50% from both the field and the 3-point line.
“We play great as a team tonight,” said McLeod. “Kamryn did a good job facilitating, plus with our posts dominated on the block, which opened up our perimeter players to get good shots.”
Though the Wildcats had some struggles with pressure on defense and turnovers, McLeod was proud of how the team overcame them.
“We need to learn to handle pressure a little better,” said McLeod, “The team showed maturity through those adjustments, and I’m really proud of our whole team for doing that.”
The Wildcats’ first road game of the season is Friday in Greenley, Colorado, against the University of Northern Colorado. The game will be streaming live starting at 7:30 p.m. on Pluto TV and 98.1 FM.
“It’s going to be a tough game,” said Goodenough. They’re playing really well right now, plus they’re picked to finish in the top quarter of their conference. Now, we are getting ready to play on the road for the first time. So this will be a great experience for our team to hop on a flight, go to Colorado and see what they need to do to be successful on the road.”
