ABILENE -- Northeastern State outscored ACU 21-6 over the final 5:16 of the contest Monday afternoon as the RiverHawks dealt the Wildcats a disheartening 66-59 loss in a Lone Star Conference women's crossover basketball game at Moody Coliseum.
The loss snaps ACU's five-game losing streak as the Wildcats fall to 7-4. Northeastern State, meanwhile, pushed its record to 10-3 with the victory. ACU will be off until Jan. 2-3 when it plays in the Colorado State-Pueblo Classic in Pueblo, Colo.
ACU -- which led by as many as 15 points in the first half and 14 points in the second half -- led 53-45 when freshman
Danielle Hartley buried the second of back-to-back 3-pointers at the 6:14 mark.
But the Wildcats managed just one more field goal and four free throws the rest of the way against the league's No. 1 scoring defense.
Jasmine Webb got Northeastern's game-winning run started at the 5:16 mark when she buried two free throws to make it a 53-47 game. Sarah Miller then buried a 3-pointer at the 4:38 mark to make it 53-50, and Cristy Nitz tied the game at 53-53 with a 3-pointer at the 4:06 mark. Nitz then hit another 3-pointer with 2:58 to play to give Northeastern at 56-53 lead, its first advantage in the game since a 2-0 lead.
Jody Meyer -- who finished with 18 points and eight rebounds -- hit a pair of free throws with 2:36 to play to cut the lead to 56-55, but Megan Fraley answered 18 seconds later with two more free throws to push the RiverHawks' lead back to three points at 58-55.
Jamie Meyer scored ACU's only field goal in the final six minutes at the 1:59 mark to trim the lead to 58-57, but that was as close as the Wildcats would get. ACU, in fact, went 0 for 4 from the field down the stretch, and after a Nitz layup with 52 seconds to play pushed the NSU lead to 60-57, the RiverHawks made 6 of 6 free throws in the final 30 seconds to seal the victory.
Jamie Meyer led the Wildcats with a double-double effort of 20 points and 13 rebounds, while Nitz had a game-high 21 points for Northeastern State.
