California Baptist University
Abilene Christian University
CBU Claims Outright WAC Regular Season Title with OT Thriller over ACU
3/5/2026 7:31:00 PM | Women's Basketball
ABILENE, TX--- The California Baptist University women's basketball team collected its third Western Athletic Conference Regular Season Title in the last six years on Thursday night as they bested the ACU Wildcats in an overtime thriller at Moody Coliseum.
CBU picked up win #20 of the season and would finalize its conference road schedule a perfect 9-0 for the first time since 2021, when they went 26-1. The Lancers will be the #1 seed with the victory and will earn a double bye in the WAC Tournament next week.
The Wildcats took the first swing in this WAC heavyweight battle, jumping out to a seven-point lead after the first quarter behind a balanced offensive attack. CBU would take its shot in the second quarter as it would quickly erase the seven-point lead to get within one point with 6:13 remaining.
The Lancers' defense clamped down on the Wildcats in the second period, allowing only nine points and forcing six turnovers down the stretch. CBU would finish the quarter on an 11-2 run, capped off by a deep Shawnee Nordstrom triple to give the Lancers its largest lead of the first half at 33-26. ACU would sneak a jumper into the end of the half to make it 33-28 in favor of the visitors.
The game of runs would spill over into the second half, with ACU coming out of the locker room on fire and connecting on its first four three-point attempts to take an early four-point advantage. The Lancers would retaliate with an 8-0 to retake the lead before ACU snatched the momentum back with an 8-3 run to end the quarter ahead by one.
The fourth quarter would be a battle with the Wildcats, once again striking first by gathering its largest lead of the game up until that point at 58-49 with 6:10 remaining. The Lancers remained calm and collected and would score on back-to-back possessions to cut the lead to four points. ACU would buffer that run with a quick layup, but the Lancers would respond with two more quick baskets to make it a two-point game with 3:22 to play. CBU would force a turnover leading to an Emma Johansson layup to tie the game at the 2:41 mark. The Wildcats would connect on a triple on their next possession, but Johansson would offset that with one of her own to keep the game tied with under two minutes to play. Those three would be the last score points of regulation as the two teams would come up empty in their final possessions to send the game to overtime.
In overtime, it would take two minutes for the first score, which would come from ACU on a layup. From that point forward, it would be the Filipa Barros show as she would connect on three triples over CBU's ensuing four possessions to give CBU the commanding advantage. Barros's final triple would be the ultimate dagger, coming with 30 seconds remaining to give the Lancers a 72-67 lead, which would lead to the 76-69 victory and the outright WAC Regular Season Title. Barros wound up with 11 of CBU's 13 points in the overtime period, outscoring ACU all by herself and delivering the undefeated conference road record for the Lancers.
Barros was the hero of the night and would finish with 26 points on 50% shooting from the floor, connecting on six of her nine triples. Barros would wind up with another double-double as well, with a game-high 14 rebounds to lead CBU to victory. Johansson was equally as clutch for the Lancers with 19 points (two off a career-high) and would collect seven rebounds. Lauren Olsen and Grace Schmidt each scored 12 points, accounting for 69 of the Lancers' 76 points on the night.
NEXT: The Lancers will return for their final game of the regular season for Senior Day against Southern Utah at 1 PM PT on Saturday, March 7.
