The women’s basketball team found themselves struggling to make shots from the field as they lost their last game at the Women’s Basketball Invitational to the Ramblers, 74-55.
With the loss, the Wildcats finished the WBI 0-3. While this was not the outcome head coach Julie Goodenough wanted, she hopes her team learned a lot over those last three games.
“The best thing we got out of this experience was the opportunity to play three teams with different styles of play from all over the country,” said Goodenough said. “They exposed some weaknesses we have, so now we have a good idea heading into the postseason and the summer on how we can improve and get better.”
One of the weaknesses that became prominent in this game was their struggles shooting from the field.
Like their last matchup against Florida International, the Wildcats were able to play alongside the Ramblers for the majority of the first quarter.
But with a few minutes left in the first quarter, ACU hit a scoring slump, allowing the Ramblers to run ahead and earn a seven-point lead by the end of the quarter. With both a scoring offense and momentum on their side, the Ramblers continued to grow their lead while ACU faced multiple scoring droughts.
The Wildcats struggled with making shots from the field versus the 3-point line on Sunday afternoon. ACU finished shooting 35 percent from the field and 38 percent from the 3-point line.
Despite the problems with scoring, the Wildcats were able to cut back on turnovers Sunday. After having 32 of them on Friday and 24 on Saturday, ACU finished Sunday with only 10 turnovers.
One player who was able to score for the Wildcats was senior guard Anna McLeod, who led the Wildcats offensively throughout the Women’s Basketball Invitational. McLeod brought in 22 points in the final game of the collegiate career and also led the Wildcats in rebounding with seven.
“It’s a team sport,” McLeod said, “so it definitely took all of us to get stops and score. I’m just thankful that my teammates were able to trust me to go and get a bucket.”
With the loss, ACU finished their 2020-2021 season 14-13 in its 27 games. This game was also McLeod’s last game of her career alongside other seniors. That includes guard Jodie Larson and forwards Alyssa Adams and Makayla Mabry.
“We had a very impressive senior class this year,” Goodenough said. “They can hang their hat on the fact that they led our program to postseason play once again. They did a really good job of righting the ship through the disappointments and distractions we had, so I really appreciate them for that.”
After the game, McLeod acknoowledged it was odd to know when her last games were, but she used that to make sure to play well.
“It was great to go to the postseason this season,” said McLeod. “A lot of seniors do know when their last game was going to be, so it was a little odd to know that these were going to be my last games. But it was definitely something I used while I was on the court for the last time to play my heart out.”
Looking back that the tournament, Goodenough felt proud of how her team played and how they achieved the goals they set at the beginning of the season.
“It was a real privilege to be able to play in the WBI,” said Goodenough. “A standard of our program is to go to postseason play every season, so it was a great experience for us to be able to do that. I’m really proud of our team for playing really hard over these last three games.”
