Abilene Christian pulls away to beat Zias

ABILENE, Texas — Senior center Jamie Boles scored 24 points, grabbed 10 rebounds and blocked seven shots Thursday night to lead Abilene Christian past Eastern New Mexico University 72-53 in Lone Star Conference South Division women’s basketball.

Point guard Alex Guiton added 16 points as ACU (15-6, 6-2 South) led the entire way.

The Wildcats, though, had to fend off the Zias after ENMU (9-13, 3-6) shaved a double-figure deficit to 41-39 with 17:48 left on a basket by sophomore guard Heather Brown.

Abilene Christian outscored the Zias 13-0 over the next 7 1/2 minutes to regain control. ENMU did not score again until a layup by Loren Scarlett with 9:11 left made it 54-41.

Senior Mika Robertson was ENMU’s only double-figure scorer with 10 points.

ACU scored the game’s first six points and held the Zias without a field goal until Tia Doss converted a jump shot at the 16:41 mark to make it 8-5.

ENMU closed to 15-11 on a Scarlett 3-pointer, but the Wildcats ran off the next eight points capped by 3-pointers from Kierstan Barbee and Meredith Doyle.

ACU led 31-19 with 5:20 to go in the half before the Zias mounted another comeback, closing to 33-30 on a 3-point play by junior Tiana Bryant with 2:21 to go. But they didn’t score again the rest of the half and the Wildcats carried a five-point lead into the break.

Guiton’s 3-pointer started the Wildcats on their game-breaking run. Guiton scored five points in that time, while Boles and Stephanie Riles added four apiece.

Lone Star Conference South

Abilene Christian 72, ENMU 53

Eastern New Mexico (9-13, 3-6) — Mika Robertson 2-10 5-6 10, Tiana Bryant 2-12 2-3 7, Riikka Lehtonen 1-4 3-4 5, Heather Brown 2-5 3-4 7, Erika Cook 3-5 0-2 7, Tia Doss 4-12 0-0 8, Kelsie Hawkins 0-0 0-0 0, Casey Rodriguez 0-1 0-1 0, Ashley Davidson 0-0 0-0 0, Loren Scarlett 4-12 0-0 9. Totals 18-61 13-20 53.

Abilene Christian (15-6, 6-2) — Stephanie Riles 2-8 0-0 4, Meredith Doyle 3-8 1-2 9, Jamie Boyles 9-13 6-7 24, Alex Guiton 3-7 8-8 16, Ashley King 3-9 1-6 7, Jaymie Harner 0-1 3-4 3, Ashlee Barr 1-7 0-0 2, Haley Hammond 0-2 2-4 2, Kierstan Barbee 2-4 0-0 5. Totals 23-59 20-25 72.

Halftime — Abilene Christian 35, Eastern New Mexico 30. 3-pointers — Eastern New Mexico 4-11 (Cook 1-1, Scarlett 1-2, Bryant 1-2, Robertson 1-6, Brown 0-1), Abilene Christian 6-21 (Doyle 2-3, Guiton 2-5, Barbee 1-1, King 1-6, Hammond 0-1, Harner 0-1, Riles 0-1, Barr 0-3). Rebounds — Eastern New Mexico 38 (Scarlett 7), Abilene Christian 48 (Boles 10). Assists — Eastern New Mexico 6 (Brown 3), Abilene Christian 15 (Doyle 8). Total fouls — Eastern New Mexico 26, Abilene Christian 24. Fouled out — Brown, Cook. A — 1,000.