Last Sunday at the UNT Coliseum, offensive fireworks were hard to come by for the Abilene Christian Wildcats. Julie Goodenough’s squad scored a season-low 38 points in a loss to Louisiana in the UNT Thanksgiving Tournament.
So, Friday night in their return to Moody Coliseum, the Wildcats took out that frustration against Alabama State.
Madi Miller had a team-high 17 points and the Wildcats hit 13 3-pointers en route to a 78-67 win over the Hornets.
The win did not come easy, especially in the first quarter. The Wildcats found themselves trailing 19-16 as six different Hornets scored. Offensively, ACU struggled to score, shooting just 37.5 percent from the field and just 1-7 beyond the arc.
Back-to-back Maleeah Langstaff 3-pointers put Abilene Christian up 24-21 with 5:42 to intermission.
Then, Jayla Crawford’s layup cut Alabama State’s deficit to 31-27. However, Aspen Thornton’s layup and a Bella Earle 3-pointer gave the Wildcats a 36-27 lead with 2:02 left in the second quarter.
Langstaff’s put-back restored a 9-point lead at 38-29 after twenty minutes.
Coming out of the half, Madi Miller scored 11 straight Abilene Christian points as the Wildcats led 49-34 with 6:44 left in the third.
She's on 🔥🔥🔥
That's her third three of the quarter 🤯#GoWildcats pic.twitter.com/90fserLQh8
— ACU Women’s Basketball (@ACUWBB) December 3, 2022
Back-to-back 3-pointers from Claire Graham pushed the ACU lead to its largest margin at 21 with 1:52 left in the third.
A late Cordaisia Harris layup stabilized the Hornet deficit at 19 points after 30 minutes of play.
In the fourth quarter, Alabama State went on a 9-2 run culminating with Harris’ layup at the 4:13 mark, cutting the ACU lead to 68-56.
Crawford’s 3-pointer and a free throw closed the gap to 74-64 with just over a minute left. And it got to eight points (75-67) with 44 seconds remaining.
However, Alabama State (0-6) got no closer and fell in their first mid-major test of the year.
Abilene Christian was 28-60 from the floor and 13-28 from 3-point range. Their 13 makes from beyond the arc are a season high, coming off a season-low in their last game against Louisiana.
Miller led the way with 17 points, six rebounds and three assists. Langstaff added 16 points, six rebounds and three assists. Bella Earle chipped in with 15 points and a pair of rebounds. Miller, Langstaff and Earle combined to hit 10 of the Wildcats 13 3-pointers.
Addison Martin had a near double-double with 12 points and nine rebounds. Meanwhile, Aspen Thornton had a double figure scoring night for the first time as a Wildcat, recording 10 points, three rebounds and two assists.
Crawford had 29 points and hit five 3-pointers in the loss. She also added five rebounds and two steals for Alabama State. Crawford was joined in double digit scoring by Harris who added 21 points and four rebounds.
Abilene Christian (4-3) visits New Mexico Wednesday as they look to keep the WAC perfect against the Lobos. Alabama State (0-6) is at home against Samford.
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