Lavender needs one victory for 100 wins

So after a huge offensive explosion a couple of weeks ago, it’s back to reality for the ACU Wildcats. Central Oklahoma held off ACU at home Thursday edging the Wildcats 68-67 just three nights after outlasting Texas Woman’s 147-143 in a quadruple overtime victory Jan. 5.

Had the Wildcats defeated the Bronchos, it would have been Shawna Lavender’s 100th career victory in her sixth full season as ACU head coach. The Wildcats got another chance Saturday, however, a surprising Northeastern State team throttled the Wildcats 83-62.

No harm done though, at least for now. ACU’s 8-6 record out of conference may have hurt its chances at an at-large regional bid if the Wildcats find themselves in the thick of the Lone Star Conference race at the end of February. However, tonight ACU gets a chance to start clean by opening LSC South Division play against Eastern New Mexico.

The Zias are coming off a year last year where they played with 12 freshmen and posted just a 5-22 record. However, second-year head coach Linden Weese was able to retain six of those players and has continued the rebuilding effort, which may have taken off quicker than expected. ENMU is 9-9 entering the contest Tuesday night and a win over ACU would double its win total from a year ago.

Back to Lavender. She took over in the final six games of the 2002-2003 season where the Wildcats went 5-1 to end the year. Since then, she’s tallied 94 more victories in five-plus seasons. The Wildcats have been to four LSC tournaments in those five full seasons and made a regional appearance in the 2004-05 season.

The Wildcats will make their third attempt Tuesday night to give Lavender the century mark. If so, ACU will have a 1-0 start in the LSC South Division, and will give the head coach a 100-67 record (.598 win pct.) She also trails Suzanne Fox (current NCAA D1 Texas State head coach) for second on the all-time list for career wins. Fox compiled 117 wins in five seasons from 1993-1997.