Abilene Christian falls to Kansas State
Kansas State 68, Abilene Christian 53
MANHATTAN, Kan. – The nation’s top scoring defense showed its teeth Monday night as Kansas State shut down the high-scoring ACU Wildcats in a 68-53 victory in women’s non-conference basketball action at Bramlage Coliseum.
The Wildcats of K-State improved to 9-1 with the victory, while ACU falls to 7-3 with the loss. ACU will be back in action on New Year’s Eve when it hosts longtime rival Angelo State in a 1 p.m. matinee at Moody Coliseum. The Wildcats will then start Southland Conference play against Central Arkansas at 2 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 3, at Moody Coliseum.
Monday night in America’s Heartland, ACU ran into a defensive buzz saw that forced 29 turnovers, came up with 24 steals, held ACU to just 6 of 23 shooting from beyond the arc (26.1 percent) and held ACU to 27 points below its season scoring average. Kansas State entered the game as the top-ranked scoring defense in NCAA Division I basketball, holding opponents to just 45.6 points per game through the early part of the season. ACU entered the game averaging 80.1 ppg, which would rank 19th in the country if ACU’s stats counted in the NCAA rankings.
ACU committed a season-high 29 turnovers just two days after committing a season-low nine turnovers in a big home win over Air Force.
ACU managed to keep the game within striking distance before K-State pushed its advantage to 15 points (42-27) at halftime. Then K-State took firm control of the game by outscoring ACU 8-0 to start the second half, keeping ACU off the scoreboard for the first 7:45 of the second half. ACU was 0 for 4 from the field and committed 10 turnovers in the first 7:45 of the half.
K-State eventually pushed its lead to 25 points (59-34) with 7:25 to play after a layup by Antoinette Taylor, but ACU would not quit. Sydney Shelstead — who finished with 14 points and five rebounds — had a layup followed by a 3-pointer from Whitney West to make it 59-39. Shelstead later added a free throw and West another 3-pointer to make it 61-43 with 5:04 to play.
Lizzy Dimba hit a jumper with 3:33 to play to make it 61-45, then Alexis Mason made her only 3-pointer of the night with 2:54 to play to pull ACU to within 63-48. Lizy Dimba hit another jumper with 2:17 to play to cut the K-State lead to 63-50. But that was as close as ACU would get the rest of the way as K-State was able to hold off the Wildcats for the win in the first game ever between the two teams.
West led the Wildcats with 19 points, while Suzzy Dimba had eight points, nine rebounds and four assists for ACU. Breanna Lewis was the only K-State player to finish in double figures, leading her team with 16 points.