Wildcats put perfect home record to test against McNeese State

(photo via ACU Sports)

Fresh off its eighth straight win, the women’s basketball team looks to remain unbeaten at home when McNeese State visits Moody Coliseum Wednesday night.

The Wildcats (12-2, 3-0) most recent win came in a nail-biting 71-68 victory over Nicholls State on the road. ACU jumped out to an early lead behind a 30-point first quarter, but found themselves needing back-to-back defensive stands late to secure the win.

Junior guard Alexis Mason led the way offensively for the Wildcats with 19 points, which helped earn her Southland conference player of the week.

Meanwhile, McNeese State (10-5, 2-1) enters the game winners of their last two, defeating Houston Baptist 71-64 and Texas A&M Corpus Christi 72-51. However, they have had their fair share of road troubles posting a 3-5 record away from home.

“First off, this is our home floor and we want to protect it,” Mason said. “A main key to protecting the court is coming out like we did at Nicholls and keeping that same intensity throughout the whole game. We know our strengths which are transition, rebounding and inside out game so we have to continue to do those three things like we know we can and I believe we will put ourselves in a great position to win the game.”

ACU defeat McNeese State in their only meeting a season ago, 75-59 which tied the all-time record at a game a piece. The Wildcats return all five starters from last year’s matchup while McNeese State will more than likely start four players that saw significant playing time a year ago.

Moody Coliseum has been kind to the Wildcats as they have scored more than 90 points in half of their home games and have posted a win margin of 34.3 points. However, head coach Julie Goodenough and her team are not taking McNeese State lightly.

“McNeese is a well-coached and very talented team,” Goodenough said. “We have a really quick turnaround and haven’t had a day off in over a week. No rest for the weary though. We would really appreciate a huge student turnout for Wednesday night’s game.”

Tip-off is at 7 p.m. as the Wildcats look to remain atop the Southland Conference as the last unbeaten team.