Kyla Deck’s Career Day Sparks Late SFA Rally

Saturday, February 17

Abilene, TX

1:00 p.m.

Stephen F. Austin

16-9,10-4WAC

Abilene Christian University

11-12,7-7WAC

SFA

Abilene Christian

Kyla Deck’s Career Day Sparks Late SFA Rally

2/17/2024 7:47:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

By: Peter Trainor, Student Assistant for Strategic Communications

ABILENE, Texas. - The Stephen F. Austin women's basketball team (16-9, 10-4) overcame multiple double-digit point deficits in the second half to rally late and steal a home win from the ACU Wildcats (11-12, 7-7) thanks to a career day from Kyla Deck who set a new career best in points today.

The ACU Wildcats looking to extend their winning streak to four games and end their four-game home stand on a high note came out firing on all cylinders to begin this Saturday afternoon contest as they exploded for a 10-0 scoring run thanks to a pair of three-pointers from Payton Hull to hold a 10-0 lead two minutes into the first. However, SFA would start to claw their way back into this contest on a 6-1 scoring run thanks to a pair of layups from Trinity Moore and found themselves trailing 11-6 halfway through the first. The Ladyjacks would carry over their three-point shooting from their last game as they would go on another 10-4 scoring run thanks tp triples from Lydia Cooke-Wiggins and Trinity Moore and the Ladyjacks wasted no time turning a 10-0 deficit into a 16-15 lead with two minutes left in the opening quarter. However, the Wildcats would regain their form from the beginning of the quarter as they would end the first on a 7-2 scoring run and held a 22-18 lead after one.

The Wildcats would start the second the way they ended the first with a 6-0 scoring run, which was ended by a pair of free-throws from Tyler McCliment-Call to cut the ACU lead down to 28-20 two minutes into the second. Kyla Deck would find her groove shortly after as she would rattle off five straight points with a three-pointer and a pair of free-throws, but that would be offset by five points from ACU and they maintained a 10-point lead at 35-25 halfway through the second. These two schools would furiously exchange baskets over the next three minutes that saw Zoe Nelson, Kyla Deck, and Ituau Tuisaula all record baskets for SFA, however, the Wildcats had an answer for all of SFA's scoring and still maintained a 45-35 lead with 90 seconds left in the quarter. The Ladyjacks would be the ones to end the quarter on a strong note this time as Kyla Deck continued her dominant quarter by recording back-to-back baskets to help spark a 6-2 scoring run to end the second and send SFA into the locker room only trailing 47-41.

The third quarter saw the Wildcats start the quarter strong thanks to a 7-2 opening run in the first two minutes to push their lead to double-digits at 54-43. Another 6-2 scoring run by the 'Cats saw them push their lead even further ahead to 15 points at 60-45 halfway through the third. However, Trinity Moore would put an end to the Wildcats strong quarter by rattling off four straight points and helping to spark a 10-2 scoring run, which saw Lydia Cooke-Wiggins drain a pair of baskets and Kyla Deck knock down another jumper for SFA that pushed the ACU lead back down to single digits at 63-55 with two minutes remaining in the third. However, the Wildcats would look to end any hope of an SFA comeback thanks to a 5-0 scoring run to end the quarter and push their lead to 13 at 68-55 heading into the final quarter.

Needing a strong quarter to overcome a large deficit, the Ladyjacks started the quarter on the right foot as they exploded for 10 straight points in the fourth thanks to points to Mele Finau, Tyler McCliment-Call, Kyla Deck, and Kurstyn Harden and SFA suddenly found themselves down by just three at 68-65 three minutes into the final quarter. Following a pair of Payton Hull free-throws, Mele Finau was able to drive into the paint and draw a foul, draining the basket, and making the free-throw to complete the three-point play and inch SFA ever closer at 70-68. Payton Hull would start to take over the game for ACU as she would score seven more points for the 'Cats, which were offset by points from McCliment-Call, Finau, and a three-pointer from Deck to keep the game extremely close with ACU leading 77-76 with a little over three minutes remaining. However, the final three minutes would be all the time the 'Jacks needed to complete the improbable rally. Kyla Deck would continue her dominance against ACU as she would rattle off four more points to her career afternoon as she would spark a critical 11-3 scoring run for the Ladyjacks which saw both Tyler McCliment-Call and Mele Finau also score points to suddenly launch SFA ahead 87-80 with 25 seconds remaining. Zoe Jackson knocked down a triple for the Wildcats with 12 seconds left to keep the game close, however, Kyla Deck put the cherry on top of her career afternoon with a pair of late free-throws to ice the win for SFA and secure a critical 89-83 road conference win over the ACU Wildcats.

Kyla Deck put her stamp on today's game thanks to a career performance that saw her score the second most points in a single game by one player in the WAC this season. Deck exploded for a career-high 34 points today draining a whopping 12 field goals, leading the team with three triples, while being just as dominant defensively as she tied for the team lead in steals with four. Trinity Moore was the only other Ladyjack to finish in double figures today as she formed a nice compliment to Deck with 13 points on 5/6 shooting while adding a pair of blocks defensively. Zoe Nelson continues to be a rebounding machine for SFA as she pulled down a team-leading nine boards today, while dishing out a team-high four assists. Meanwhile, Destini Lombard stuffed the stat sheet for SFA today as she finished the contest with four points, two rebounds, three assists, one block, and three steals.

The Ladyjacks showcased their strong shooting abilities once again today as they completed the shooting trifecta by having a solid day shooting from the field, beyond the arc, and from the charity stripe. The Ladyjacks shot 57.1% from the field draining 32 field goals, while knocking down six triples on 50% shooting, and hitting 19 free-throws shooting an extremely solid 82.6% from the foul line. The Ladyjacks returned to their dominant ways scoring down low as they posted 50 points in the paint, while posting yet another strong defensive effort that saw them record 13 steals, four blocks, and scoring 27 points off turnovers from those 17 turnovers. Meanwhile, the 'Jacks got solid production from their bench posting 31 bench points and were effective in the transition game as they recorded 19 fast break points.

The Ladyjacks were able to snap a two-game losing skid and improve their record to 16-9, boosting their conference record to 10-3, and will return home with plenty of confidence to open a four-game home stand on Thursday, February 22nd against Seattle University with tip-off scheduled for 6:30 p.m. CST at the Sawmill.