HOUSTON – Abilene Christian made 10 second-half 3-pointers to turn what was a two-point game at halftime into an 89-60 victory over HBU as the Wildcats claimed a share of the Southland Conference regular season title in the season finale Saturday afternoon at Sharp Gym.
Sophomore guard
Lisa Zderadicka kept the Huskies (6-22, 4-14 SLC) in the game as long as she could, pouring in a career-high 26 points, grabbing six rebounds and handing out four assists. Senior guard
Heidi Byrd added 10 points, while sophomore guard Amanda Jonson chipped in with eight. Sophomore center
Veronika Kirienko led HBU with seven rebounds, while freshman guard
Britta Daub pulled down six.
Alexis Mason led the Wildcats (22-8, 16-2) with 31 points, hitting a school-record nine 3-pointers on 19 attempts, and recording five rebounds and four steals. Sydney Shelstead had 14 points and eight rebounds, while twin sisters Suzzy and Lizzy Dimba each had 13 points and six rebounds. Suzzy Dimba led ACU with six assists and three blocked shots.
ACU shot 45.3 percent from the field, 13-for-32 from 3-point range and 18-for-24 from the free-throw line, while HBU shot 38.2 percent overall, 5-for-18 from long distance, and 13-for-15 from the stripe. The Wildcats outrebounded the Huskies, 42-33, including 13-7 on offensive boards.
The Wildcats scored the first seven points of the game, but a 3-pointer by Byrd with 2:49 remaining got the Huskies back within one at 14-13. After a pair of free throws by Lizzy Dimba, Byrd knocked down another triple to tie the game at 16 and neither team would score over the final 1:44 of the period.
ACU also scored the first seven points of the second, until Zderadicka buried a three. A Johnson three at the 4:36 mark got HBU within two. Mason later hit a three to put the Wildcats up by six, but back-to-back layups by Zderadicka and freshman guard
Shannon Jones closed the gap to two at 34-32 with just over a minute remaining. Suzzy Dimba drove in for a layup, but Zderadicka's runner off the glass at the buzzer cut ACU's lead to 36-34 at the break.
A step-back, free-throw line jumper by Zderadicka tied it early in the third, but Mason answered with a pair of threes and Shelstead sank two free throws to put ACU ahead, 44-36. Zderadicka hit another short jumper, converted a three-point play, then found Johnson for a fast-break layup to slice the Wildcats' lead to one. Lizzy Dimba hit a three, Breanna Wright made one-of-two free threes and Mason hit from long distance as ACU led, 53-43, with under four minutes remaining. After a pair of free throws by Zderadicka stopped the spurt, Mason hit two more from deep and Suzzy Dimba added a pair of free throws to open up a 16-point advantage. The Wildcats led, 65-50, at the end of three.
Mason hit two more threes, her sixth and seventh of the half, early in the fourth and ACU led by as many as 31 in the final frame.
The contest was the final career game for Byrd, a four-year letterwinner, and Zderadicka, who redshirted a year and will graduate from HBU in just three years. Byrd finishes her career ranked 10
th on HBU's all-time assists list with 205.
