by ABILENE — The ACU Wildcats clinched a second straight appearance in the Southland Conference Postseason Tournament with a dominating 86-66 win over Southeastern Louisiana Saturday afternoon at Moody Coliseum.
ACU qualified for the tournament in Katy last year in its first year of eligibility after completing the transition from NCAA Division II to NCAA Division I affiliation, entering the field as the No. 7 seed with a 9-9 league record. The Wildcats have their sights set much higher this season as they currently reside in third place in the league standings with a 17-8 overall mark to go along with a 10-4 conference mark.
If the Wildcats finish third or fourth in the league, they’ll earn a first-round bye into the quarterfinals. However, ACU could still finish as high as second in the league and earn a double-bye into the semifinals of the tournament.
The Wildcats never trailed Saturday, led by as many as 25 points and were never seriously challenged as they forced 16 turnovers and scored 16 points off those Lady Lion miscues.
“The week off really helped us because we were able to focus quite a bit on the defensive end,” ACU head coach Julie Goodenough said. “We thought we’d be able to pressure them, force some turnovers and get some easy baskets and that’s how we were able to build the lead in the first half.”
The Wildcats dominated the first half, shooting 16 of 25 from the floor, including 6 of 10 from 3-point range. ACU never trailed in the first half as Ducat scored 13 points and pulled down five rebounds in the first 20 minutes of the contest.
ACU led 26-14 at the end of the first quarter and then finished off the half in style with a late flurry. ACU led 39-22 before Southeastern’s Charliee Dugas hit a pair of free throws with 50 seconds left to cut the Wildcats’ lead to 39-24. The teams then exchanged turnovers with Dugas turning the ball over to Diamond Wildcat, who got the ball ahead to Madi Miller for a possible last-second shot.
Miller, however, was fouled by Jaclyn Scholvin with 0.7 seconds to play, giving the Wildcats the ball on a side out of bounds play. Miller threw a lob toward the rim that Dominique Golightly (Kiowa Tribe) caught and before she landed threw the ball off the backboard and through the net for a bucket as the buzzer sounded, giving her team a 41-24 lead at the break.
The Wildcats opened the third quarter with back-to-back 3-pointers from Breanna Wright and then a four-point play from Dominique Golightly as they eventually opened up as much as a 25-point lead with 6:06 left in the third quarter.
Golightly led four Wildcats in double figures with 19 points (6 of 9 shooting from the field, including 4 of 6 from 3-point range). Lexie Ducathad 18 points and seven rebounds, while Wright had 15 points (3 of 4 shooting from 3-point range) and Sara Williamson added 11 points and eight assists.
ACU is back in action Wednesday (Feb. 27) at 6 p.m. when it hosts Texas A&M-Corpus Christi at Moody Coliseum.
