Women's Basketball: Feb. 18 Scoreboard
Abilene Christian 76, A&M-Corpus Christi 41
Nicholls 59, Northwestern State 40
McNeese State 65, Central Arkansas 63
Abilene Christian 76, A&M-Corpus Christi 41
ABILENE, Texas – Texas A&M-Corpus Christi entered Wednesday night's Southland Conference women's game at Moody Coliseum as, statistically, a better defensive team than the Abilene Christian Wildcats.
But the large and loud crowd on hand would say otherwise on the way out of the coliseum after watching the Wildcats dismantle the Islanders, 76-41, in one o f their most impressive all-around performances in head coach Julie Goodenough's three years at ACU.
The Wildcats' third straight win – and sixth in their last eight games – ;pushes them to 14-10 overall and 6-7 in the Southland. The Islanders, meanwhile, are now 12-13 and 8-6 after posting their second-lowest point total of the season. ACU is back in action Saturday in Hammond, La., against Southeastern Louisiana. The game is set for a 4:30 p.m. tip and can be seen on ESPN3.
The Islanders entered Wednesday night's contest ranked No. 2 in the league in scoring defense (allowing 58.2 ppg), No. 1 in field goal percentage defense (allowing opponents to shoot just 37.2 percent from the field), and No. 1 in 3-point field goal percentage defense (allowing opponents to shoot just 29.2 percent from the field).
The Wildcats, however, were right on their heels in each category, ranking No. 4 in scoring defense (62.8 ppg), No. 2 in field goal percentage defense (38.6 percent shooting by opponents), and No. 4 in 3-point field goal percentage defense (30.7 percent shooting by opponents).
But it would be hard to argue ACU wasn't the better defensive team on this night as the Wildcats allowed Corpus Christi to shoot just 30.9 percent from the floor (17 of 55), 15.4 percent from 3-point range (2 of 13), gave up just 41 points and forced 27 turnovers. Those turnovers were turned into 30 points for the Wildcats, who dominated the Islanders in all of the "inside-the-game" numbers: bench points (20-15), fast-break points (6-2), second-chance points (13-9), points off turnovers (30-6), and points in the paint (28-22).
The Islanders, meanwhile, saw the Wildcats shoot 46.3 percent from the field (25 of 54), including 47.6 percent from 3-point range (10 of 21) and score the second-most points an opponent has posted against them this year (77 by UNLV in a season-opening 77-65 loss on Nov. 14, 2014, are the most this season).
ACU never trailed in the game, jumping out to a 7-1 lead, extending it to 25-13 with 10:07 left in the half on a 3-pointer by Suzzy Dimba, and carrying a 39-26 lead into halftime. The Wildcats absolutely dominated the second 20 minutes, outscoring the Islanders 37-15 and holding them to just 20.7 percent shooting from the field (6 of 29).
The Wildcats were consistent in the second half, hitting 13 of 28 shots from the floor (46.4 percent), including 44.4 percent from the 3-point line (4 of 9). ACU outscored Corpus Christi 20-6 in the first 11-27 of the second half to stretch the lead to 59-32. The Wildcats took their first 30-point lead with 4:57 to play when freshmen Sierra Allen – who scored a career-high six points in the win – converted a three-point play to make it 67-35. ACU's biggest lead came with 24 seconds left when Dimba hit a layup to make it 76-40.
Sydney Shelstead – who scored the first four points of the game for ACU – finished with a game-high 18 points to go along with five rebounds and three steals. Suzzy Dimba had 15 points, seven rebounds, three assists, two blocks and one steal in 32 minutes, while Whiteny West had 14 points on 4 of 6 shooting from the field, including 4 of 5 from 3-point range.
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Nicholls 59, Northwestern State 40
THIBODAUX, La. – Senior Jenny Nash scored 17 points and freshman Tia Charles added 16 to lead the Nicholls State University women’s basketball team on offense, but it was the Colonels’ defense that stole the show on Wednesday night against Northwestern State as Nicholls held the visitors to 26 percent shooting to extend their program-record winning streak to seven games with a 59-40 victory at Stopher Gym.
With the win, Nicholls (14-10, 10-3 SLC) snapped a three-game skid in the series against the Lady Demons (13-12, 8-6 SLC) and sets up a major showdown on Saturday at Stephen F. Austin. Despite the seven-game winning streak, the Colonels have been struck in third place in the Southland Conference standings, chasing Lamar and SFA, which both have only two conference losses and play Thursday night for sole possession of first.
But before taking on the Ladyjacks of SFA, the Colonels needed to take care of business on its home floor against rival Northwestern State, and they did just that.
The weather outside must have had some impact on the shooting as both teams struggled for points in the early going. Charles, who finished 7 of 17 from the field, was a one-person show on offense in the first half as she accounted for the Colonels’ first 12 points, giving Nicholls a 12-9 lead at the 8:23 mark.
Hope Pawlowski scored a layup inside which started a 7-0 run for a 19-9 lead. It would be Pawlowski only basket of the game, but she contributed elsewhere with nine rebounds and six steals.
With three minutes remaining in the half, the Colonels closed out the period with three 3-pointers to head into the break up 30-13. Emani White, who had nine points off the bench, accounted for two of the 3-balls and Nash had the other. The Colonels shot 37 percent from the field for the game and made 10 of 27 3-pointers. It marked the third time this season that Nicholls has made 10 or more 3-pointers in a game, all which resulted in wins. Nash had five triples with Charles and White adding two each.
The second half was much of the same with Nicholls’ lead swelling to 37-15 just three minutes in. Despite the Colonels going on a five-minute scoring drought, the matchup zone defense caused problems for NSU all night and they were never able to come closer than 14 the rest of the way.
The Colonels dominated the rebounding with a 49-33 advantage. Nash recorded her fourth double-double of the season with a team-high 10 rebounds.
NSU made just 15 of 58 from the floor and 1 of 16 from 3-point range. Keisha Lee scored 16 points for the Lady Demons, but Janelle Perez, who came in averaging 19.6 point in conference play, was held to four points on 2 of 13 from the field.
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McNeese State 65, Central Arkansas 63
CONWAY, Ark.— Jayln Johnson’s layup with 3.9 to play proved to be the game winning basket in McNeese’s 65-63 Southland Conference win over Central Arkansas Wednesday, moving the Cowgirls into sole possession of fourth place.
The junior from Jennings was one of three Cowgirls to score in double figures. Allison Baggett led the Cowgirls with 18 points. Johnson ended the game with 17 and Talisa Boyd recorded her fifth career double-double with 12 points and 14 rebounds. Freshman Frederica Haywood led the Cowgirls with 15 rebounds, her fourth straight game with double figure rebounds.
McNeese State opened the second on a 6-0 run to cut the UCA lead to one 37-36 but UCA responded with a run of their own to take its largest lead of the half (50-42) nine minutes into the half. The Cowgirls continue to chip away at the UCA lead and got as close as one point several times in the half.
Two free throws by Johnson tied the game at 59 then two more by Boyd gave McNeese a 61-59 lead with 3:28 to play. The lead was the first Cowgirl lead since the 13:35 mark in the first half.
UCA scored the next four points to take a 63-61 lead but Johnson drove the lane and scored on a layup to tied the game again for the fourth time in the last four minutes of the game.
With the game tied at 63, UCA’s Brianna Mullins missed a jumper but the Cowgirls turned the ball over with :50. Mullins missed a layup with :30 and Haywood grabbed the rebound. With the Cowgirls playing for one shot, Johnson saw an opportunity to score and hit a jumper with 3.6 to play for a 65-63 Cowgirl lead. Central Arkansas had a chance to tie the game but Mullins missed a layup as time expired.
McNeese opened the game by scoring the first four points and held an 8-2 lead after making four of their first five shots from the field. UCA went on a 7-3 run behind the three-point shooting of Maggi Proffitt. Proffitt scored 10 of the UCA’s first 15 points and ended the half with 15 points on 6 of 10 from the field including 3 of 4 from three-point range.
After three ties, a Frederica Haywood putback gave McNeese a 19-17 lead, its last lead of the half with 11:15 to play. UCA put together another run (9-0) to take its first double digit lead of the half (31-21). After a Jayln Johnson layup cut the lead back to single digits, Brittany Agee’s jumper in the lane put the lead back to 10. McNeese ended the half on a 7-4 run behind back-to-back three’s by Allison Baggett. McNeese trailed 37-30 at the break.
McNeese will travel to league leading Lamar Saturday for a 4 p.m. game.
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