SOUTHLAND WOMEN’S BASKETBALL GAMES POSTPONED

FRISCO, TEXAS (January 9, 2020) The Southland Conference has announced the postponement of two women’s basketball games, in accordance with COVID-19 protocols.

Houston Baptist’s matchup against Lamar (January 9) and the Huskies’ game at Abilene Christian (January 13) will be rescheduled in consultation with the two opponents and the Southland office and announced at a later date.

Records fall at 2020 Houston Marathon

Story and photos by Lou Roesch

Copyright 2020 All Rights Reserved

HOUSTON, TEXAS (January 19, 2020)  Records are made to be broken and that’s what happened on Sunday at the 48^th annual Chevron Houston Marathon. With runners from across all 50 states and representing 57 countries battling 25 mile an hour wind gusts, two national records, a world record and a Guiness World Record were set on Sunday.

Hitomi Niya of Japan got things started in the Aramco half marathon smashing both her personal best and the Japanese national record to win in the third fastest time in Aramco Houston Half Marathon history, 1:06:38. She led from start to finish and no competitor in sight as she crossed the finish line.

The men’s half marathon was a whole different story. Fourteen runners raced through the first 5K setting a pace that would put the course record (59:22) in danger. Five runners would remain to battle over the final mile last year’s runner-up, Jemal Yimer (ETH), won in 59:25. It was the second fastest time ever run in Houston and North America. Bernard Ngeno (KEN) finished second at 59:26, and Shardrack Korir (KEN) with a personal best of 59:27 took third.

Ethiopia’s Aksale Merachi in her Houston debut took the women’s marathon title in 2:23:29 thwarting defending champion Biruktayit Degefa (ETH) quest for her fourth victory (a historic feat in Houston’s race history). Degefa did take second with a time of 2:24:47. The win by Merachi was the 14^th consecutive win by an Ethiopian woman in Houston. Canadian Mandi Elinore was third setting a Canadian national record finishing in 2:24:50.

The men’s marathon was won by Woldeargay Kekile Gezahegn in what started as a potential course record and then became a two man race. The Ethiopians win gave the African nation three of the four Houston titles. Bronsa Dida was left behind by countryman who won in 2:08:36 more then two minutes faster.

Michael Roeger (AUS), a T46 Paralympian, crushed his own world record (2:22:51) finishing in 2:19:33 keeping his pre-race promise to “put his competitors on notice” heading into the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics.

Texas State rallies to down Abilene Christian 61-56

Photo by
Darla Tamulitis
La Vita Loca Photography
Copyright 2019 All Rights Reserved

By Robert H Kelly
Copyright 2019 All Rights Reserved

SAN MARCOS, TEXAS (November 25, 2019) The Abilene Christian Wildcats jumped out to a 34-30 lead at the half, but Texas State rallied in the second half to give the Bobcats a 61-56 win at the Strahan Center in San Marcos. The Wildcats dropped to 2-4 on the season while Texas State raised their record to 5-2. 

Abilene Christian, who were the 2019 Southland Conference tournament champions, have faced a very tough schedule to begin the 2019-2020 season. They began the season with a  90-39 win over Arlington Baptist at home, followed by a 86-83 loss on the road to Drexel in Philadelphia. They then came up on a losing side of a 73-69 decision against a strong Pepperdine team in Abilene. Next on the schedule was a 72-58 loss to UNLV on the road along with a 90-59 win versus Champion Christian College at home.

Againt the Bobcats, Payton Ricks tallied 13 points, followed by Koltom Kohl with 11. Ricks pulled down eight rebounds with Kohl adding seven. For the Bobcats, Nijal Pearson led the way with 16 points.

Photos from the Monday evening game, by Darla S Tamulitis of La Vita Loca Photography, can be viewed by clicking here.

Breanna Wright leads ACU to upset win over No. 1 Lamar

Photo by
Darla S Tamulitis
La Vita Loca Photography
Copyright 2019 All Rights Reserved

By Robert H Kelly
Copyright 2019 All Rights Reserved

KATY, TEXAS (March 16, 2019) Establishing a Southland Conference tournament record, Abilene Christian's Breanna Wright (left) was 16-of-16 from the free throw line in leading the No. 4 Wildcats to a 88-79 win over the No. 1 Lamar Cardinals; securing a place in Sunday's final tournament final against No. 6 Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. Her performance at the line established new tournament records for free throw points and free throw percentage. She scored 31 points, tying a career high she set on February 2, 2018 against Sam Houston State. Her 16 free throw points was also a season high. The win pushed ACU to a 22-9 record going into Sunday's tournament final.

The Jarrell, Texas native was not alone in securing the win. Fellow guard Sara Williamson shoot 6-of-8 from the field and was 2-of-2 from the line to add 14 points to the Wildcats' scoring machine. Staring forward Makayla Mabry and Lexie Mabry scored 13 and 15 points, respectively. Collectively, ACU shot an amazing 61.9% from the field; a season high. Junior Dominique Golightly pulled down nine rebounds to lead all players,

The Wildcats trailed by seven (68-61) will just over five minutes to play, with Wright hitting 10 of her free throws, along with a three-pointer, and assist and a steal in the final five minutes. ACU only lead for 7:27 and was down by 11 points at the 3:14 mark of the second quarter.

For the Cardinals, Moe Kinard scored 34 points in the loss; connecting on 11-of-22 from the field, including 6-of-12 from three-point range. Lamar finished the season with a 24-6 record, 

Abilene Christian storms to 82-54 win over Central Arkansas

Story and photo by Robert H Kelly
Copyright 2019 All Rights Reserved

KATY, TEXAS (March 15, 2019) No. 4 Abilene Christian pushed their season record to 21-9 as they downed No. 8 Central Arkansas by the score of 82-54 in the second round of the Southland Conference Basketball Tournament in Katy, Texas. The win sets the Wildcats up for a Saturday, March 16 semi final match up against the No. 1 seeded Lamar Cardinals.

The Wildcats wastes little time in knocking the Sugar Bears out of the tournament. The jumped out to a 16-15 lead after 10 minutes of play; ending the first quarter with a 5-0 run. They extended their lead in the second quarter, outscoring their Southland Conference opponent 22-6; to take a 38-21 lead at the half. They also outscored the Sugar Bears 44-33 in the second half. 

The trio of forward Lexie Ducat, and guards Breanna Wright and Sara Williamson all scored in double digits, with Ducat and Wright tallying 14 points each, followed by Williamson with 11. Ducat and forward Makayla Mabry both pulled down eight rebounds to lead the game, with 15 of their 16 total coming on the defensive end of the court. Wright's three-pointer to end the first half gave her 999 career points and her seven assists have her four assists away from 400 for her career. Kamry Orr carried the banner for Central Arkansas, scoring 13 points, with Alana Canady adding 11. Hannah Langhi had seven rebounds in the loss.

Previously this season, the Wildcats faced Lamar on February 6, dropping a 63-60 decision at home. The Cardinals bring a 24-5 record into the game, along with a 17-1 conference record. Their only loss in conference play was to No. 2 Stephen F. Austin; a 70-58 loss in Nacogdoches. The game is set for a 1 p.m. tip off on Saturday and can be viewed in ESPN+. 

HBU Huskies down Abilene Christian Wildcats 3-1 in Southland volleyball action

Photo by Darla S Tamulitis, La Vita Loca Photography
Copyright 2017 All Rights Reserved
 

By Robert H Kelly
Copyright 2017 All Rights Reserved

HOUSTON, TEXAS (October 14, 2017) The HBU Huskies rallied from a one-all tie after two sets to down the Abilene Christian Wildcats by the score of 3-1 in Southland Conference volleyball after at Sharp Gymnasium in Houston on Saturday, October 14, 2017. The win pushed the Huskies to 7-2 in conference play and 15-6 for the season. HBU took the first set 25-18 with the Wildcats evening the score at one-all; taking the second set 25-22. The Huskies came back to claim the win, taking the third set 25-23 and the fourth set 25-22.

Junior setter Madison O'Brien (Cleveland, Texas, Tarkington High School) led the Huskies with 11 kills on 14 attempts (.714) with senior outside hitter Bailey Banks (Missouri City, Texas, Elkins High School) tallying five service aces and 21 digs. Senior defensive specialist Hailey Erickson (Richardson, Texas, Prince of Peace High School) also accounted for 21 digs.

The Huskies are currently third in Southland Conference standing (.778, 7-2); behind first place Sam Houston State (1.000, 7-0) and second Stephen F. Austin (.857, 6-1). Next up for HBU is a October 17 road  match against Northwestern State. 

Overtime touchdown gives HBU Huskies 27-24 win over Abilene Christian

Wesley Lewis (81) scored the game winning touchdown in overtime as the
HBU Huskies beat the Abilene Christian Wildcats by the score of 27-24.
Photo by Darla Tamulitis, La Vita Loca Photography
Copyright 2016, All Rights Reserved

By Robert H Kelly

Copyright 2016 TexSport Publications

HOUSTON, TEXANS (September 17, 2016) With the game tied at 21 after 60-minutes of play, Houston Baptist University and Abilene Christian University went to overtime, with the Huskies pulling out a 27-24 win for their second straight win of 2016 and a first ever win over the Wildcats. Saturday’s game was the fourth all-time meeting between the two schools dating back to 2013. In the three previous matchups, the Wildcats downed the Huskies 69-12 in 2013, 59-14 in 2014, and 49-21 in 2015.

After some heated play early in the game, the Huskies make their first assault on the end zone at the 5:21 mark of the first quarter. HBU quarterback Tony Dawson connected with wide receiver Wesley Lewis on a 69-yard first-and-ten play; giving the Huskies a first down on the ACU 14-yard line. HBU completed the drive three plays later with a Terrance Peters seven-yard rush for the touchdown. Alec Chadwick converted the kicking extra point to give the Huskies a 7-0 lead with 3:22 left in the first quarter. The Wildcats came right back after the kickoff and marched 75 yards in seven plays; ending in a 23-yard pass from quarterback Dallas Sealey to wide receiver D.J. Fuller for the score. Parker McKenzie lobbed a pass to Dylan Douglass over the right side for the two-point conversion; to give ACU an 807 lead after 15 minutes of play. With 61 seconds remaining in the first half, Sealey carrying the ball on a quarterback keeper, rushed to the right and found himself bottled up. He quickly reversed direction and went to the left. He picked up some blockers and carried the ball 39 yards to the ACU four-yard line. Five seconds later, on first-and-ten, he carried the ball up the middle for the second Husky TD of the game. Chadwick added his usual kicking extra point to put HBU up 14-8 with 55 second to go in the half. After an ACU set of downs, where they advanced the ball deep into HBU territory, Nik Grau kicked a 42-yard field goal to send both teams to the locker room at halftime with HBU leading by the score of 14-11.

HBU Cheerleaders
Photo by Darla Tamulitis, La Vita Loca Photography
Copyright 2016, All Rights Reserved

The Huskies began the second half with the ball and after a short series of downs, took back the lead at the 1:08 mark in the third quarter on a two-yard run by Peters. The run was set up after a 43-yard pass play from Dawson to halfback Mev Adjin, for a first and goal from the ACU two-yard line. With 7:08 to go in the ball game, Sealey ran the final 12 yards of their 83-yard drive for another ACU touchdown. Grau added the kicking extra point to tie the score at 21. After some heated back-and-forth play, the game ended in regulation in a 21-all tie; forcing the game to go to overtime.

HBU won the overtime coin flip and head coach Vic Shealy elected to defend. ACU took possession of the ball on the 25-yard line. In three down, they advanced the ball four yards. On fourth down, Grau kicked a 38-yard field goal to give the Wildcats aa 24-21 lead. HBU then took possession on the ACU 25-yard line, and on the first play from scrimmage, Dawson hit Lewis on a wide-out pattern to the right side end zone. The 6-6 wide receiver out leaped is defender, brought the ball down in-bound sin the end zone for six points and the win.

Junior linebacker Garrett Dolan accounted for 17 tackles against the Wildcats, with 12 coming in the first half. Prior to the game, Dolan, who played his prep ball at Barbers Hill High School in Mont Belvieu, Texas, led the Southland Conference, with 12.5 tackles a game. The post game interview with Dolan can be viewed by clicking here. In additon, the post game interview with Wesly Lewis can be viewed by clicking here, along with head coach Vic Shealy's interview here.