WBB: Woodson and Chavez spark ACU to big road win in Riverside
Erin Woodson and Natalia Chavez each had 20 point days as ACU won their third straight after dropping a road game at Utah Valley...
RIVERSIDE, CA— A year ago the road team won each time CBU and ACU got together.
Wednesday morning, in their third Education Day game of the year, the Wildcats took the floor at Fowler Events Center and will fly home Friday morning with a 70-58 win after watching a lead that got as large as 21 points get whittled to four points in the fourth quarter. That trend continues with ACU hosting the next two matchups in early February and early March.
“We had two really good days of prep where we cranked up the stereo to simulate this crowd and I had a feeling we were going to play well. But we also knew that they had the firepower to come back and I’m super proud of that defensive effort,” Wildcats coach Julie Goodenough said.
Erin Woodson led the way with 23 points and was a perfect 7-7 at the free throw line for ACU (13-5, 4-1 WAC). Natalia Chavez stepped into the starting lineup for a second straight game with Meredith Mayes out due to injury and was 4-6 from 3-point range en route to 20 points with seven rebounds. And WAC Preseason Player of the Year Payton Hull was steady with 15 points in addition to six rebounds. ACU shot 42.9% from 3-point range and 35.5% in total while holding CBU, the WAC’s No. 1 scoring offense in conference play, to ten points and ten percentage points under their averages through five games.
Woodson and Chavez both tied career scoring highs in the win.
ACU flies home Friday and will host Southern Utah on Saturday while CBU has the bye.
Khloe Lemon converted a 3-point play with 1:43 left in the first quarter to cut ACU’s lead to 13-10. From there Hull scored the final six Wildcat points on a 3-pointer and 3-point play to give ACU a 19-12 lead after a quarter.
Woodson went on a personal 8-0 scoring run to push the Wildcat lead to 32-19 with 5:27 left to the half, connecting on the first of two 3-pointers and converting a 3-point play in that stretch. Chavez converted a Jazmyn Stone steal into a layup with 29 seconds left as the lead reached 20 for the first time before a late Lauren Olsen layup cut the lead to 18 with 20 minutes gone.
“Ever since Christmas Break Erin has done such a good job of reading defenses and not forcing things offensively. She’s tough in the paint and can really finish when she gets down there” Goodenough added. “And Natalia today was a great option for us on those dribble drive kickouts from beyond the arc.”
“We had to be the grittier team on the floor today to get this win, especially after that close loss at Utah Valley,” Woodson said. “Now it’s about going home and defending home court against a very good Southern Utah team on Saturday afternoon.”
CBU (11-8, 5-1 WAC) went on a 6-0 run to cut their deficit to 11 points before Emma Troxell connected on her lone 3-pointer of the day to take the lead back to 14 points. Reyleigh Hess’ layup with 12 seconds left cut the deficit to 17 after three quarters.
A 7-0 CBU run cut ACU’s lead to 62-58 with 71 seconds left after Lemon’s layup, a pair of Sofia Alonso free throws, and a 3-pointer from Olsen. However, Troxell got behind the CBU press and beat it for a layup with 56 seconds left and from there the Wildcats made their free throws to pull away for a big road win.
“You can’t dig yourself that kind of a hole against a good team like ACU and expect to come out on top,” CBU coach Jarrod Olson said. “They just came in here and kicked our butts for 40 minutes. We’re in a good spot at 5-1 but I think the more concerning thing for me is that we didn’t do the work during the week and it showed today. Hopefully, we’ll learn that lesson as we move forward.”
After two weeks of conference play home teams were 11-4, illustrating just how hard it is to get a win on the road in WAC play.
Olsen had 19 points to lead CBU while Johansson added 15 points, six rebounds, and six blocks in the loss.
CBU maintains a half-game lead in the WAC standings over ACU, who will host Southern Utah on Saturday. The TBirds lost 81-55 at Tarleton State on Thursday night.