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Contributed by Lance Fleming, ACU Associate Director of Athletics for Media Relations
ABILENE - Winning a championship isn't supposed to be easy.
Teams that win championships should have to overcome injuries, adversities and days when its game isn't up to its usual standards. And they should have to overcome an out-of-the-running team trying to spoiler.
The ACU Wildcats did all of those things Sunday afternoon as they held off a spirited Southeastern Louisiana team in a 72-70 win at Moody Coliseum that kept them undefeated at home in 2015-16 and kept them alone in first place in the Southland Conference.
But it wasn't easy.
ACU had to survive a harrowing final three seconds of the game to get the win.
With the Wildcats leading 70-65, KaeLynn Boyd hit a 3-pointer to draw the Lady Lions to within 70-68 with 26 seconds to play. After a timeout, the Wildcats inbounded the ball, expecting to draw a foul from Southeastern. The Lady Lions, however, chose not to foul until Alexis Mason drove to the basket with seven seconds left in the game. She hit a pair of free throws to push ACU's lead to 72-68.
After a 3-point attempt from Taylin Underwood was blocked out of bounds by Mason, Suzzy Dimba was whistled for a foul on the ensuing inbounds play without any time running off the clock. Boyd hit the first free throw and intentionally missed the second, which worked to perfection when ACU's Sydney Shelstead was whistled for a foul with 1.49 seconds to play.
Boyd again made the first free throw to bring the Lady Lions to within 72-70, and intentionally missed the second again, and that's when it appeared the game would be heading for overtime. Underwood swooped around a Wildcat and grabbed the offensive rebound and put the ball back up just before the buzzer sounded to end regulation.
The ball, however, rolled off the back of the rim and dropped off, giving the Wildcats a heart-stopping victory that improved them to 11-0 at home this season.
"This was a big win for us because of everything we had to overcome," ACU head coach Julie Goodenough said. "I'm proud of the way we came back; proud of the way we got to the free throw line; and proud of the way we overcame adversity."
And there was plenty to go around.
The Wildcats scored just 25 first-half points and trailed at halftime (27-25) for only the third time this season. They shot a meager 22.6 percent in the first half (7 of 31). They missed all 10 of their 3-point attempts in the first 20 minutes. And, playing for the second time without leading rebounder Lizzy Dimba (out for the season with a knee injury), they gave up 24 offensive rebounds to the Lady Lions.
"We're still trying to get used to our new normal of playing without one of our starters and best players," Goodenough said. "We've got to figure out a way to get things done without her on the floor."
There was plenty of good for the Wildcats on Sunday as well. Suzzy Dimba and Sydney Shelstead each recorded their sixth double-double of the season as Suzzy Dimba had 16 points and 11 rebounds, while Shelstead had 24 and 10, and Paris Webb had three assists and a career-high seven rebounds in her second straight start.
And Mason, who couldn't find her shooting touch most of the day, still finished with 17 points as she hit 9 of 12 from the free throw line after driving relentlessly to the basket in the second half.
Whitney Swinford added 11 points (6 of 6 from the free throw line) for the Wildcats, who ended up shooting just 30.2 percent from the floor (19 of 63), although they did hit 6 of 15 from 3-point range in the second half. Mason and Suzzy Dimba each hit a pair of 3-pointers, while Sara Williamson and Swinford each hit one.
The win pushes the Wildcats to 22-3 overall and 13-1 in the Southland Conference, keeping them one game ahead of Central Arkansas (12-2 in the league) in the race for the league's regular-season championship and automatic bid into the Women's NIT. Southeastern Louisiana falls to 4-21 and 3-11 with the loss.
ACU will be back in action Wednesday at 7 p.m. when it takes on Houston Baptist at Sharp Gym in Houston.
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