The Wildcats headed to Nacogdoches to take on Stephen F. Austin for their second game of Western Athletic Conference play, receiving the class loss, 78-83.

This game set ACU at a 1-1 overall conference record while holding a 7-6 season record.

“I think they were genuinely excited to see one another,” head coach Julie Goodenough said. “And to get back working. When we played Tarleton, they were so prepared and anticipated actions and forced a lot of turnovers, which I was proud of.”

The Wildcats fought hard through the entire game causing it to go back and forth during all four quarters.

In the first quarter, the Wildcats were only down by three points to end it, showing they were in a good position moving into the second quarter. Starting the second, the energy was high and ACU walked away with that quarter in hand, sending them into halftime up, 41-37.

Coming off of the break, the Wildcats were ready to finish this game off strong, but so was Stephen F. Austin. In the third quarter, SFA tallied 27 points, gaining the most points they have secured in a quarter so far. Yet despite the pull away from SFA, the Wildcats were not done fighting yet, in the fourth quarter the Wildcats pulled out on top to win the quarter, 22-19. But it was not enough to grab the overall win, marking the loss, 78-83.

“We shot the ball and we shared the ball well,” Goodenough said. “Yet we didn’t get the outcome we wanted, I was just proud of how our players went into it and we are really serious about our preparations and we just happened to play a good team.”

Several players had some high-scoring games with three marking in the double digits. Aspen Thornton led the Wildcats scoring 20 overall points while Madi Miller and Addison Martin each recorded 18 points.

Miller went six for 10 in three-pointers while the team went 26-60. Martin went six for 10 in free throws with almost recording half of the teams made, 15-23.

The Wildcats next take on Sam Houston for the first time in conference so far back at home Thursday in Moody Coliseum at 6 p.m., streaming on ESPN+.