By Jeff Craig, Sports Writer
The women’s basketball team was eliminated from the Lone Star Conference postseason tournament Wednesday after a heartbreaking loss to Texas A&M-Commerce, a team ACU defeated in the regular season.
ACU kept the lead for the entire game, until the final minute when the Lions tied the score. With just five seconds remaining in the game, Texas A&M- Commerce forward Nola Taylor knocked in the game-winning shot off the glass to stun ACU with a 76-74 upset victory. Head coach Shawna Lavender thought her team controlled the tempo for the majority of the game but fell out of its game toward the end.
“I felt that for the most part we played well the first part of the game and we did a good job of controlling the game,” Lavender said. “In the last four, five minutes I felt we started settling for perimeter shots, and they knocked us out of our game. They hit some big shots, while we did not execute offensively.”
The Texas A&M-Commerce Lions were again paced by superstar forward Britney Jordan, the leading scorer in NCAA Division II. Jordan finished the regular season averaging 31 points per game, an average she exceeded against the Wildcats by pouring in 35 points. Prior to the game, Lavender emphasized the fact that stopping Jordan was an unrealistic goal, saying instead her team must prevent the other Lions from hurting them.
When ACU played Commerce earlier this year, Jordan put up 53 points, but no other Lion scored in double figures. However, in Wednesday’s game, Jordan was kept to just 33-percent shooting, but three of her teammates scored in double figures to accompany her 35 points.
ACU was led by forward Jamie Meyer, who scored 22 points while collecting 11 rebounds. Center Audrey Maxwell-Lively, ACU’s leading scorer, was kept to just 10 points by the stingy Lion defense.
Despite their tournament loss, the Wildcats have not necessarily been eliminated from NCAA contention. The Wildcats entered the tournament ranked No. 7 in the South Central Region with the top eight teams getting NCAA tournament berths. Lavender describes her team’s situation as up in the air at this point. She said factors beyond her team’s control will determine its destiny, particularly in the area of upsets.
The Wildcats chances are much greater if no more upsets take place in the LSC tournament.
Despite what happens with regards to the NCAA tournament, it has been a successful year for the Wildcats, and on Tuesday five individuals were honored on the eve of the tournament. Maxwell-Lively and Jamie Meyer were named to the All-LSC South team; Maxwell-Lively already had earned the honor in 2007. This season, she averaged 15.7 points and 10.5 rebounds per game; both stats led all ACU players. Meyer averaged 13.9 points per game and led the LSC in three-point shooting.
Maxwell-Lively and Meyer were not the only Wildcats receiving honors Tuesday. Guard Kat Kundmueller, forward Jody Meyer and guard Kelsey Darby were all voted honorable mention on the LSC South team. Kundmueller ranks third in the nation in assists on the season by averaging more than 6.7 dish-outs per game.
At this point, the Wildcats have no other option than to wait and see. Their tournament’s destiny is out of their hands and dependent upon numerous factors. Whatever their final fate may be, the Wildcats still delivered an 18-9 record and a second-place finish in the LSC South Division.
