The ACU women’s basketball team is on the road to continue their Southland Conference play. They are fresh off a four-game home stand that left their conference record at 5-4 and their overall record at 12-8. While two games ended in losses, the ‘Cats closed out strong with a win over Sam Houston State. They rediscovered their intense passion and timely scoring.
The Wildcats will need that effort to carry over against Northwestern State University to be successful. Whitney West said it starts on the practice court.
“In order for our intensity to carry over into this week’s games on the road, we are going to first have to carry the intensity into practice,” West said. “If we stay focused and work extremely hard in practice, I strongly believe that we will be able to carry that over into our games.”
The only Wildcat trying to move on from Saturday’s big win is Senior Renata Maquez. Although she had a big bucket down the stretch, foul trouble prevented her from getting into the flow of the game. ACU needs Marquez and West to fire on all cylinders if they are to be at their best. Their leadership adds consistency to a predominately freshman line-up.
The Northwestern St. Lady Demons are also anchored by non-freshman. Sophomores Keisha Lee and Trudy Armstead lead the team in scoring. Their conference record rests at 3-4, and they are on a two-game slide.
The Dimba twins should be a good match-up for Armstead, who has both size and athleticism. The Wildcats will not face a better post-player than SHSU’s Angela Beadle for the rest of the season, so ACU’s posts will be ready to face the Lady Demons in the paint. Lee’s speed could be an issue on the dribble-drive penetration, but ACU will have the bench advantage with the hot-handed freshman guard, Jessica Elkins.
“Jessica is a great three-point shooter,” head coach Julie Goodenough said. “She has sparked us in several games this year.”
The ‘Cats and the Lady Demons have shared four opponents. Both teams have fallen to Central Arkansas and Lamar but picked up wins against Sam Houston. ACU did manage to beat Oral Roberts, a team that beat Northwestern by 11. The Lady Demons finished in eighth in the Southland last season.
The Wildcats will be in another dogfight for a victory tomorrow. It will take an aggressive defense and a patient offensive to walk away the winner.
