ABILENE, Texas – Southeastern Louisiana freshman guard Alexius Horne finished with a career-high 24 points and eight assists, but it was not enough as defending Southland Conference Tournament champion Abilene Christian held off the Lady Lions, 61-53, in league women's basketball action Saturday evening at Moody Coliseum.
 
SLU (5-12, 2-5 Southland) held the high-powered Wildcats (13-2, 5-1 Southland) to 23 points under their team scoring average. However, Horne and Charliee Dugas (11 points) were the lone Lady Lions to score in double figures and Abilene Christian was able to hold off Southeastern's upset bid.
 
Southeastern trailed by as many as 12 in the third quarter, but rallied to within three midway through the final period after a Dugas three. But a veteran ACU squad that features five seniors showed poise down the stretch and quelled the Lady Lions' upset bid.
 
Horne and Dugas were the leaders for SLU offensively. Horne also paced Southeastern with three steals, as Southeastern forced ACU into 20 turnovers, while only committing 11. Jyar Francis led the Lady Lions with five rebounds, but ACU finished with a sizable 40-23 rebounding advantage.
 
Alyssa Adams led the way for Abilene Christian with 22 points and a game-high 11 rebounds. The Wildcats featured the two leading scorers in the Southland in Domique Golightly and Breanna Wright who contributed 12 and 16 points, respectively. Golightly also led ACU with four assists.
 
Neither team could get going offensively in the opening 10 minutes. Wright and SLU's Celica Sterling each had a pair of threes to highlight their respective team's attacks, but the Wildcats and the Lady Lions finished the opening quarter tied 12-12.
 
The game remained close for the majority of the second quarter, as a bucket by Horne gave SLU a 19-18 lead midway through the period. From there, the rest of the half was all Wildcats, as Abilene Christian closed the half on a 15-6 run. A 35-footer at the buzzer by Wright put an exclamation point on the rally and sent ACU into the break with a 33-25 lead.
 
Southeastern would get no closer in the third quarter, as the Wildcats grew their lead to 12. SLU briefly cut the lead to single digits, but Wright sank a pair of free throws with three seconds left in the quarter to give ACU a 49-39 cushion heading into the final period.
 
The Lady Lions would not go away without a fight. A three-point play by Horne and a Dugas trey pulled SLU within, 51-48, with 6:19 left. However, ACU held Southeastern scoreless for nearly five minutes on the way to building the lead back to double digits. Horne hit a pair of free throws to cut the lead to eight with 1:29 left, but that was as close as SLU would get as ACU held on for its ninth victory in its last 10 games.
 
Up Next
Southeastern will continue its three-game road swing on Wednesday. The Lady Lions travel to McNeese for a 6:30 p.m. Southland Conference game in Lake Charles. The game will be heard in the Hammond area on KSLU-FM (90.9), online at www.LionSports.net/listenlive and via the TuneIn Radio and Lions Game Day Experience apps.
 
TICKET INFORMATION
For ticket information on the upcoming Southeastern women's basketball season, contact the Southeastern Athletics Ticket Office at (985) 549-5466 or visit www.lionsports.net/tickets.
 
SOCIAL MEDIA
For more information on Southeastern Women's Basketball, follow @LionUpWBB on Twitter, like /SoutheasternWBB on Facebook and subscribe to the SLUathletics YouTube channel.
 
CLEAR BAG POLICY
Southeastern Athletics has instituted a clear bag policy for all ticketed events, effective with the start of football season. For more information on the clear bag policy, visit www.LionSports.net/clear.