With just three games to go before the beginning of Western Athletic Conference play, the women’s basketball team will play back-to-back days as it hosts the inaugural ACU Christmas Classic in Moody Coliseum.

The tournament will feature the Wildcats and three other teams, with each team playing two games. The Wildcats will face the University of Montana on Friday night before turning their attention to last year’s Women’s National Invitational Tournament winner, the University at Buffalo.

“It’s phenomenal to host the ACU Christmas Classic,” Head Coach Julie Goodenough said. “We have tried to do this for six or seven years and almost didn’t get it done this year. We probably had 15 other teams commit to this event, but for whatever reason, they pulled out. It’s hard to get teams to come to Abilene, period. We’re grateful to Montana and Buffalo for coming.”

In addition to the Grizzlies and Bulls, WAC rival Tarleton State University will also be competing, but will not go head-to-head with the Wildcats. Meredith Mayes, junior center from Bixby, Oklahoma, said she wants to play well with the Texans in Moody.

“Yeah, I’ve thought about it,” Mayes said. “I want to have a good impression on them for conference play, but it’s not my main focus.”

Mayes has started all 10 games for the Wildcats, averaging 14.5 points and eight rebounds per game.

The Wildcats enter the tournament off a 10-point loss to Texas Tech University on Sunday. In the loss, Payton Hull, junior forward from Peaster, led the team with 23 points and nine rebounds while playing all 40 minutes.

The 67-57 loss to TTU was the team’s fourth of the non-conference schedule, but Goodenough said, “The good things outweighed the bad,” in the loss.

“We’ve got to move forward as a team with a next-play mentality,” Goodenough said. “It’s okay if we make a mistake, but we just can’t let those mistakes snowball.”

After the loss, Goodenough emphasized the importance of working on playing with a personnel advantage in practice. In her Monday press conference, she said they need to spend a couple of practices improving their play in situations without being 5-on-5.

“We’ve got to capitalize when we have the advantage,” Goodenough said. “I think there’s a lot of points on the table, but we’re just not reading the defense very well.”

As the team approaches the Christmas Classic, it will have one less burden to bear, with finals week behind the team, giving a boost to their morale and energy supply.

“This is one of my favorite times of the year because we can practice at noon instead of 6:30 p.m.,” Goodenough said. “I do think we’re about to blow these grades out of the water. Our GPA is about to be historic from what grades have come in so far. I’m super excited about that.”

Mayes agreed that wrapping up the semester has allowed for more free time and focus on basketball.

“I’ve been loving it,” Mayes said. “I’ve been able to have free time or do pro time with Coach. Outside of basketball, we’ve been hanging out more, which has been a lot of fun.”

The contest against UM will be the first to take place in the Christmas Classic. Montana has started the season 2-7, scoring 63 points per game while allowing their opponents to score 73.

“Montana is number two in the country in three-pointers per game,” Goodenough said. “Their three-point frequency is insane.”

With the team shooting 32 threes per game, junior forward Jocelyn Land leads the team with 25 made threes on 77 attempts – good for 32.5% from range.

“It’s different for me to guard on the perimeter, but it’s nothing I haven’t practiced,” Mayes said. “I think it’ll be a fun inside matchup offensively.”

In addition to prepping for the Grizzlies, Goodenough thinks this will be a good test because the team is similar to WAC foe Utah Tech University, which the Cats begin conference play against on Jan. 1.

“They’re super similar to Utah Tech,” Goodenough said. “I think the scouting we’re doing right now should be able to carry into that first conference game.”

The battle with Buffalo will take place on Saturday at 3 p.m., just 22.5 hours after the Wildcats tip off with Montana. Goodenough said the Bulls will be “very different” than the Grizzlies the game before.

“It’ll be fun,” Goodenough said. “We both have one day to prepare for one another.” 

After winning the 2024-25 WNIT, the Bulls have a brand new coaching staff, led by Kristen Sharkey, who graduated from Buffalo in 2014. Additionally, the Bulls return just one letterwinner from a year ago – Paula Lopez. Lopez appeared in 36 games last season for the Bulls while starting in 12. This season, the junior guard leads the team in scoring with 11.9 PPG.

While the ‘Cats play two games in two days, they won’t start preparing for Buffalo until after the game versus Montana. Additionally, the team is focused on putting on a “first-class” event as it hosts the three other programs.

“We’ve got tournament gifts, and we’ll have an All-Tournament team,” Goodenough said. “We want them to leave like, ‘Wow, that was one of the best events we’ve ever gone to.’”