Phoenix, AZ- In a game that saw Arizona Christian down by 12 halfway through the third quarter, the Firestorm produced as large as a 13 point lead before ending up with an 82-73 win over #24 Great Falls on Friday evening.  Freshman Jada Willingham and Senior Madison Austin created or tied their ACU single game high with 22 points each.

Freshman Moana Hala'ufia scored the first points of the game on the first ACU possession.  The Argos (8-4) answered with a three pointer to grab the lead.  UGF built out to a 13-4 advantage as they were a perfect 5-5 from the field to begin the game.  Down 15-9 with 4:38 showing on the clock, the ACU defense kept the Argos off the scoreboard for the remainder of the quarter.

Willingham and Austin went to work as they combined to score the final six points of the quarter- including a three pointer by Austin assisted by Willingham.  The score was tied 15-15 at the quarter break.

Freshman Katie Martinka knocked down a jumper early in the second quarter to push the Firestorm (7-5) up 17-15.  UGF responded by three times building a seven point edge with the last time of the half coming at 33-26 with 2:12 to go.  Freshman Makayla Enders laid home two points to start the frantic finish to the half.  Freshman Courtney Christmas put on a show started by scoring on jumper.  In the final 20 seconds, Christmas stole an inbounds pass and scored two points before grabbing a defensive rebound and going coast-to-coast for a fast break layup to close out the half and create a 34-34 tie.

With her six point outburst, Christmas grabbed the top scoring honors for ACU with eight points in the first 20 minutes.

The Argos owned the first five minutes of the third quarter as they extended out to a 50-38 lead.

By the end of the third quarter, the Firestorm had trimmed their deficit to just four points.

Senior Alyssa Gruber briefly moved ACU ahead with a three pointer.  UGF went momentarily back in front before Christmas gave Arizona Christian the lead for good with eight and a half minutes remaining.  The offensive explosion by the Firestorm took off from there.  By shooting 67% from the floor and a perfect 6-6 from the free throw line while forcing six turnovers, ACU exploded for 31 points in the final quarter.  ACU grabbed their biggest lead of 13 points with 44 seconds remaining to cap the 25 point swing in the final 15 minutes of the contest.

Willingham converted 16 of her career high 22 points in the second half.  Austin converted 15 of her ACU career tying 22 points in the final 20 minutes.  Christmas had a big second half with 10 of her points and eight of her rebounds coming after the break as she ended up with 18 points and 13 rebounds.

Head Coach Odell Berry broke down the ACU effort with this statement, "We played an excellent opponent tonight.  They went very deep in the national tournament last year and they are currently a top 25 team.  We knew they would be very tough coming in to the game and our team answered the bell.  It was a great night for a couple of our freshmen, Jada and Courtney.  Austin was not feeling well but kept battling her way to another great game.  It was an excellent game for us defensively.  In the end our pressure determined the final outcome."

The Firestorm will face another tough test on Saturday as they host Bethesda- who defeated Pacific Union 86-53 in Fultz Gym earlier on Friday.  Tip-off will come at 5:00 pm (AT)/ 4:00 pm (PT).