The Wildcats swept their last homestand on Thursday and Saturday against Tarleton State University and the University of Texas-Arlington. The team beat the Texans by three points and then moved on to beat the Mavericks by seven points.
Head Coach Julie Goodenough said she was proud of the way her team has responded since the loss on Feb. 19 against Southern Utah University, and how they’ve won the three games since.
“They’ve shown extreme poise and resilience through some adversity and challenges,” Goodenough said. “Everybody’s just stepping up and filling their role to the best of their ability.”
Meredith Mayes, sophomore center from Bixby, Oklahoma, led the team in scoring against Tarleton with 14 points and was second in scoring and had a double-double against UTA with 18 points and 11 rebounds.
Bella Earle, senior guard from Corinth, led the team in scoring against UTA with 22 points, and she also added eight rebounds and five assists to her stat line.
Another strong performance against UTA came from Zoe Jackson, senior guard from McKinney, who scored 12 points for a season-high.
Earle and Jackson celebrated their last game in Moody Coliseum on Saturday and went out with a bang. The team’s third senior who was honored is Mia Rivers, graduate guard from College Station. Rivers tore her ACL on Jan. 16 when the Wildcats hosted Grand Canyon University.
Goodenough said she was sad Rivers could not finish the season out, but was appreciative of her time on the court as a Wildcat.
“She came in and she was the point guard that we needed,” Goodenough said. “Someone with a lot of experience, someone that could kind of calm the team down, that could be a vocal leader.”
After the win on senior day, Earle said she was thankful the team was able to pull out the win for her last home game.
“You put in all the hours here that people don’t see,” she said. “You cry here with your teammates, you bleed here with your teammates, obviously you sweat here with your teammates, and it’s just all of that paying off and getting to celebrate the win was something I’ll never forget for sure.”
Jackson said winning her last game in Moody was a big deal to her, and is also critical to the team’s success moving forward in the season.
“We are on our winning streak,” Jackson said. “We hope to continue to do that once we get on the road and play Utah Valley and GCU so we can have that momentum going into the tournament.”
Goodenough said she is thankful for this group of seniors and knows they will go on to do great things in their respective fields.
“They’re going to be really successful in life because they take everything seriously,” she said. “They want to be the best version of themselves.”
The Wildcats travel to Utah Valley University and Grand Canyon University this week for their final regular season games on Thursday and Saturday.
