
ABILENE – Abilene Christian takes its first conference road trip of the season, playing at Stephen F. Austin at 2 p.m. on Saturday.
The Wildcats are 4-2 overall and 1-0 in the Western Athletic Conference after a 94-76 win over Texas-Arlington on Wednesday.
SFA matches the ACU win-loss records after an 80-67 win at Tarleton State on Wednesday.
ACU Storylines
Triple Threat: Bella Earle leads the nation with two triple-doubles and is the only Wildcat to get consecutive triple-doubles after going for 19 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists on Wednesday. Her Wednesday performance came on the heels of a 13-point, 12-rebound, 10-assist outing on Sunday against Navy. She has two of the 13 all-time triple-doubles in WAC history. Those two games saw Earle take over the team lead in rebounding (7.8 per game) and assists (4.2 per game).
30-30: ACU freshman Payton Hull tied the ACU D-I era record for points in a game with 34 on Sunday while also tying the era’s record for three-pointers in a game with nine. She followed that with 31 points on Wednesday to become the only Wildcat in the era with back-to-back 30-point games. Hull leads the team with 17.3 points per game. She is the league’s defending Newcomer of the Week.
1-2 Punch in 3s: Aspen Thornton and Payton Hull are first and second, respectively, in the WAC in three-point percentage. Thornton checks in at 50 percent and Hull and 48.8 percent. Hull leads the league with 21 three-pointers this season.
Threes and Assists: Abilene Christian had a top-10 D-I era mark on Wednesday with 25 assists. The record is 30. The team also connected on 18 three-pointers, which is the second-best mark during ACU’s D-I era. The record is 19.
Last Meeting: The Lady Jacks handed ACU an 83-78 loss the last time the teams met in Stephenville. Aspen Thornton had 20 points, five rebounds, six steals and five assists for the Cats. Addison Martin had 18 points in the game. Kyla Deck came off the bench to score 18 for SFA.
Scouting the Lady Jacks
- Kurstyn Harden leads the Jacks in scoring and rebounding with 18.3 points and 9.3 rebounds per game. The 6-3 senior center had 18 points and a dozen rebounds on Wednesday against Tarleton State. Harden does a great job drawing fouls and is 12th in the nation with 49 free-throw attempts this season. She has connected on 87 percent.
- Kayla Deck, a sophomore guard, scored 24 points on Wednesday against Tarleton State to lift her scoring average to 12.5 points. She also leads the team, the WAC and is 12th nationally with 3.8 steals per game.
- Senior guard Destini Lombard tops the team with four assists per game and also averages 10.7 points.
- Like ACU, SFA likes to shoot the threes. They lead the WAC and are 13th in the NCAA with 27.5 attempts per game.