Wildcats squeak by Aggie women
December 3, 2009ABILENE, Texas (December 3) – Cameron’s women’s basketball team (3-3) fell back to .500 on the young season after losing a close battle with the Abilene Christian Wildcats (3-3) tonight. ACU took tonight’s Lone Star Conference Crossover opener 77-66, but the game was nip and tuck the whole time. Tonight’s match-up was Cameron’s first LSC action of the 2009-2010 season.
“It’s a tough loss because we struggled defensively again and Abilene Christian shot almost 50% from the field. We also got out-rebounded,” Head Coach Tom Webb said. “Our defense and rebounding were the two things we talked about as a team that we need to be tougher at. Until we can toughen up in those areas, it doesn’t matter how much or how well we score.”
CU maintained a close lead for much of the first half until ACU went on 16-4 run as the scoreboard ticked towards halftime. The Aggie women cut their deficit back to single digits right before the half and went into the locker room down 35-26.
Coach Webb rallied his troops at halftime and the team responded by putting together a very solid second half. Although the Aggies were outscored 42-40 in the second frame, they looked like the better team at times.
The loss gives ACU four straight wins over the Black and Gold.
“At times we looked good offensively tonight, but we turn it over and travel. We need to make better passes too,” Coach Webb said. “We are excited because our tempo was better tonight and we still pushed the basketball.”
Junior guard Josie Stewart put together a very nice game offensively with a team-high 23 points. She went 8-18 from the field, including 3-7 from long-range, and 4-5 from the free throw line.
Fellow guards Luv Rattler (junior) and Alexis Williams (freshman) both joined Stewart in the double-digit scoring club with 16 and 13 points, respectively.
Rattler had a good game defensively as well with a game-high 3 steals. Cameron swiped 9 steals to Abilene Christian’s 8, but the ‘Cats finished with the game’s only 8 blocks.
Stewart also led the way under the boards with a team-high 8 rebounds including a team-high 3 offensive boards.
Overall the Aggies were out-rebounded 47-37, but CU won the turnover battle 23-24. A strong second half gave the Cameron women a 34.8% field goal percentage for the night, but that was bested by Abilene Christian’s 48.4% shooting percentage.
The Wildcats relied on a huge game from senior forward Jody Meyer who nearly came away with a triple-double. Her 11 points, 12 rebounds, and 6 blocks proved instrumental in ACU’s close win over CU.
Cameron stays on the road to complete this week’s Texas swing with a road match-up with the Angelo State Rambelles on Saturday (December 5). CU and ASU tip off at 2:00pm in San Angelo, Texas.
“We are excited to have another opportunity when we take on Angelo State on Saturday,” Coach Webb said.
