Boles' 24 leads Abilene Christian over 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.