The last two months of the season haven't been good for the Abilene Christian women's basketball team over the past two years.
The Wildcats are hoping to avoid going to their first Western Athletic Conference tournament in Las Vegas on Wednesday.
ACU lost four of their last five regular season games last year and entered the Southland Conference tournament as the No. 7 seed. Then, after defeating Avatar Word – the same team they had defeated in the regular season finale in Abilene, the defending Conference winner sixth seed Nichols lost 67–57 in the second round.
The ACU Women's Basketball Invitational would lose all three games.
This year, the Wildcats had a similar ending to the regular season - losing four of their last six matches. He had a three-game skid before beating Tarleton 80-60 in the regular season final on Saturday at Stephensville.
As a result, ACU missed out on the fourth seed of the tournament, putting the victory for Utah Valley to shame. The Wildcats would also have won the tiebreaker with Wolverine.
Still, it could have been worse.
Had the ACU lost in Stephenville, the Wildcats would have started the tournament on Tuesday instead of getting a first-round bye.
Anyway, ACU (17-12) plays No. 8 Texas-Rio Grande Valley (12-18) in a second round game at 2 p.m. Must win four games to earn Wednesday and travel to the NCAA Tournament. UTRGV defeated No. 9 Seattle 71-61 in a first-round game on Tuesday.
"We're excited about it," said ACU coach Julie Goodenough, speaking via Zoom on her phone, as the team was arriving at their hotel in Las Vegas on Monday night. "I think planting seeds is good for us. Obviously, we wanted to do one or two byes. We were shooting for the top four seeds, but we are happy with five seeds. We like matchups."
Not that winning the tournament will not be a challenge. The lowest seed to win a WAC tournament is the fourth seed, having done so twice - Seattle in 2018 and New Mexico in 1998.
Colorado State reached the title game in 1994 as the sixth seed, and New Mexico did it twice as the seventh seed (2006–07).
The No. 1 seed reached 27 of 31 tournament finals - winning 19. And ACU will have to go through top seed Stephen F. Austin, who has a bye until the semifinals.
"You have to go through 1 (seed), but we earned five seeds," Goodenough said. "Had we been a little stronger in the last week of the season, maybe we could have got a fourth seed. ... We are fine with that. We are excited about it. We know anything can happen in the tournament."
Hard road to title
The Wildcats must win Wednesday, then beat No. 4 Utah Valley (15-14) and SFA (26-4) on consecutive days to reach Saturday's title game. The Grand Canyon, the No. 2 seed, is the favorite on the other side of the bracket, while third-seeded California Baptist (22-7) is likely to advance to the second semi-final.
The ACU split with UTRGV – winning 88–69 at Abilene on 27 January and losing 82–62 at Edinburgh on 5 February.
Goodenough said on Monday that his team is looking forward to playing either Seattle or UTRGV in their first match of the tournament.
"One thing that gives us a slight edge is that the last time we faced them both, we lost," Goodenough said. "I think our players feel like we didn't play to the best of our ability against each of them."
Goodnow said the UTRGV and Seattle offer a contrast in styles. She said Seattle has been playing mainly zone lately, while Rio Grande plays a full-court, man-to-man press.
The ACU won its only meeting with the Utah Valley 69–63 at the conference opening in Abilene. The SFA defeated the Wildcats, 81–65 at Nacogdoches and 80–62 at Abilene. The ACU lost its only game against California Baptists (77–71 in California).
The tournament winner captures the league's automatic bid for the NCAA tournament, unless California Baptist wins the tournament. In that case, the SFA would go on to the NCAA tournament as the regular season champion.
California Baptist is in its fourth and final year of transition to full Division I status, thus ineligible for the NCAA Tournament. The Lancers won the tournament last year, beating the Grand Canyon 78-60 — and couldn't make it to the NCAA Tournament.
ACU won the Southland Conference tournament in 2019 to earn its first Division I NCAA Tournament berth. The eventual national champion Baylor defeated ACU 95–38 in the first round in Waco.
Bonrains shines
Kamrin Maraj and Maddie Miller are the only holdovers from the 2018-19 squad, when both were freshmen.
Point guard, Meraj has averaged 12 points in the last four games, while grade transfer Jamie Bonarence has been stellar throughout the season - a team-high 14.9 points. He has scored double points in 22 games this season, including the last 10 games in his first and only season with the team.
Little wonder the 6-foot forward was named WAC Newcomer of the Year on Monday, while also receiving first-team All-conference honors. She was the only ACU player on the All-WAC team.
He scored a season-high 26 points in the regular-season finale against Tarleton, a win that gave the Wildcats a boost to the tournament.
"It was one of those games where she was in a zone scoring," Goodenough said. "He is so deserving of the praise he received."
Tatum Barber, another grade transfer, is second on the team in scoring (9.4), followed by Miller (9.3) and Sarah Griswold (9.0). Barber leads the team in rebounding (6.0 per game), while Bonaires (5.0) is second. Miller (3.4) and Meraj (3.1) lead the team to assist.
Shaping the new convention
ACU were 24-5 (16-4 Southland) in the 2019–20 season, but did not get to play in the conference tournament, as COVID-19 wiped out postseason play.
The Wildcats were 20–9 in the regular season prior to the season and won their first DI Conference title as Southland's fourth seed (13–5). He had to win three games to win the Southland tournament that year.
Despite adjusting to a league with teams in Chicago, Utah, California, New Mexico and Arizona, the ACU has shown signs of being able to play with the elite in its new conference. That's a far cry from Southland, which had teams in Louisiana, Texas, and Arkansas.
"It's been a challenging night after night," Goodenough said. "I think there are really, really good teams in the WAC. It's been very, very different. It's definitely a completely different level from the conference we've played in."
Still, Goodenough said her team believes it can win it all this week.
"We're very confident," Goodenough said. "Obviously, if you can get a bye or a double bye, whatever, it's less breakage. You want to spend the whole week here, you want to play the fewest games possible to get to the championship and still have your There are a few feet below."
WAC Women’s Tournament
At Las Vegas
Tuesday’s Games
Game 1 – No. 8 Texas-Rio Grande Valley 71, No. 9 Seattle 61
Game 2 – No. 7 Lamar 65, No. 10 New Mexico State 54
Wednesday’s Games
Game 3 – No. Texas-Rio Grande Valley (12-18) vs. No. 5 Abilene Christian (17-12), 2 p.m.
Game 4 – No. 7 Lamar (14-14) vs. No. 6 Sam Houston (14-15), 4:30 p.m.
Thursday’s Games
Quarterfinals
Game 4 – Game 3 winner vs. No. 4 Utah Valley (15-14), 2 p.m.
Game 5 – Game 4 winner vs. No. 3 California Baptist (22-7), 4:30 p.m.
Friday’s Games
Semifinals
Game 6 – Game 4 winner vs. No. 1 Stephen F. Austin (26-4), 2 p.m.
Game 7 – Game 5 winner vs. No. 2 Grand Canyon (21-8), 4:30 p.m.
Saturday’s Games
Championship
Game 6 winner vs. Game 7 winner, 4 p.m.
WAC Tournament Champions
(WAC championship game results since 2012; the first WAC tournament was in 1991)
2021 – No. 1 seed California Baptist 78, No. 3 Grand Canyon 60
2020 – No tournament (COVID-19)
2019 – No. 1 New Mexico State 76, No. 2 UT-Rio Grande Valley 73 (2 OT)
2018 – No. 4 Seattle 57, No. 2 Cal State-Bakersfield 54
2017 – No. 1 New Mexico State 63, No. 2 Seattle 48
2016 – No. 1 New Mexico State 80, No. 2 UT-Rio Grande Valley 83
2015 – No. 1 New Mexico State 70, NO. 3 Texas-Pan American 52
2014 – No. 1 Idaho 75, No. 3 Seattle 67
2013 – No. 3 Idaho 67, No. 1 Seattle 64
2012 – No. 1 Fresno State 89, No. 3 Louisiana Tech 61