COMMERCE – Despite fighting back from a 16-point first-half deficit to making it a four-point game in the third quarter, the East Texas A&M University women's basketball team fell 72-55 to the Abilene Christian Wildcats on the Hunt Regional Healthcare Court in the Field House on Saturday afternoon.
 
The loss drops the Lions to 3-4 on the season, while Abilene Christian improves to 6-3 on the season, picking up the third win over a Southland Conference opponent this season. Saturday was the 50^th meeting between the two programs with the Wildcats now holding a 39-11 advantage in the series.
 
The game was tied at nine with 2:35 left in the first quarter, but the Wildcats scored 11 of the final 13 points of the quarter to lead 20-11 after the first. ACU started the second quarter on a 11-4 run to lead by 16 at the 6:22 mark of the second, but then the Lions fought all the way back to making it a 32-23 game with 3:03 left in the half.
 
The Wildcats led 38-27 at the half, despite four lead changes and five ties through the first 20 minutes. ACU went ahead 49-35 with 3:47 to go in the third on a 4-0 run, but the next 10 points were scored by the Lions.
 
ACU hit a three-pointer in its final possession of the third quarter to go back up by seven. The Wildcats extended their lead to 16 at the 4:35 mark of the fourth and its largest lead in the game was 19 points.
 
Ahmya Boyce (Newport News, Va.) led the Lions with 18 points, shooting 5 for 11 from the field, and was the only Lion to score in double digits. Nyaluak Dak (Lincoln, Neb.) came off the bench and had team-best seven rebounds as well as four points.
 
East Texas A&M was held to shoot 36 percent in the game and outrebounded by the Wildcats, 38-29. ACU shot 43.6 percent from the field. The Lions went 14 for 21 at the line, while the Wildcats went 15 for 22.
 
Meredith Meyes scored 19 points for the Wildcats on 7 for 10 shooting to lead all scorers.
 

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The Lions resume Southland Conference play on Friday at McNeese at 5 p.m.