Cowgirls ralliy for win

LAKE CHARLES—McNeese women’s basketball team came back from a 13-point deficit Monday night to defeat Houston Baptist 60-57 to remain undefeated in Southland Conference action.

“I’m really proud of this win because it wasn’t a pretty one,” head coach Brooks Donald Williams said. “We had to really work for it. Our girls had to gut this one out, and they certainly did.”

Junior Jayln Johnson continued her streak of scoring in double figures to six games and ran her consecutive free throws streak to 23 in the last three games. Johnson was perfect from the charity stripe in all six attempts.

McNeese (8-5, 2-0 SLC) trailed Houston Baptist for all but the final 43 seconds of the game when the Cowgirls took their second lead of the game after taking a one-point lead, one minute into the game.

With the Cowgirls trailing 52-50 with 2:13 left, freshman Mercedes Rogers’ layup tied the game at 52 all. HBU retook the lead on the next possession on a Shanice Steenholdt layup but McNeese’s Amber Donnes hit her only trey of the game to give McNeese a 55-54 lead, only the second Cowgirl lead of the game. Johnson made two free throws and Allison Baggett made the first of two free throws to give the Cowgirls its largest lead of the game 58-54 with 19 seconds to play.

HBU didn’t give up as they cut the lead to one point on a three-pointer by Meghan Shank with 10 seconds left. Johnson was fouled again and once again she made good on her two freebies with nine seconds left to seal the win for McNeese. HBU had two attempts to tie the game in the final three seconds but Rachel Arthur and Tayler Jefferson missed on their three-point attempts.

Houston Baptist (6-7, 0-2 SLC) jumped out to a 10-3 lead in the first five minutes of the game and held a double-digit lead for most of the half. HBU lead 31-24 at the half. The Cowgirls struggled from the field in the first half while HBU shot lights out to begin the game. The Huskies cooled off a little but ended the half shooting 50 percent from the field while the Cowgirls shot 27.3 percent from the field.

McNeese used its full-court pressure to fight their way back into the game and got 25 points from its bench. The Cowgirls turned the tables in the second half, holding HBU to a 33.3 field goal percent.

The Cowgirls will travel to Texas A&M-Corpus Christ this Saturday for its first Southland Conference road contest of the year.

Houston Baptist 68, McNeese 56
LAKE CHARLES – Scoring droughts at the end of each half kept McNeese from rallying back against Houston Baptist on Monday night as the Huskies controlled much of the game for a 68-56 win over the Cowboys in Burton Coliseum.

McNeese went scoreless in the final 4:45 of the first half and trailed 28-20 at the break after being up 20-17, then when trailing 61-56 with 4:20 to play in the game, McNeese was outscored 7-0 during that span and eliminating any chance the Cowboys had for a comeback win.

The loss dropped the Cowboys (6-7, 0-2) below the .500 mark for the first time this season since starting the year with a loss at Baylor. HBU improved to 6-6 overall and 1-1 in league play.

Desharick Guidry led the Cowboys with 22 points to go along with nine rebounds while Kevin Hardy added 16 points and nine boards.

McNeese shot just 32.7 percent for the game (17 of 52) and hit just 6 of 23 for 26 percent from 3-point range.

HBU connected on 27 of 65 for the game for 41.5 percent as Colter Lasher led all scorers with 25 points. Anthony Odunsi added 12 points and Ricmonds Vilde pulled down 13 rebounds as the Huskies controlled the glass with a 43 to 36 advantage.

After trailing 28-20 at the half, the Cowboys came out with some fire to start the second half with a 6-0 run and cut the gap to 2 points at 28-26 after a Hardy layup with 17:47 to play. Odunsi followed with a layup and Hardy followed that with two free throws to make it 30-28 at the 17:01 mark.

HBU then rolled off a 16-4 run to take its largest lead at 46-32 after a Lasher layup with 12:10 to play.

But the Cowboys would not roll over as Shaun Johnson and Guidry knocked down consecutive 3 pointers to cut the gap to eight points, then a 3 by Lance Potier followed by a Guidry layup made it even closer at 53-49 with 7:33 to play.

HBU again would string together a run

McNeese led for much of the first half but only held a 3 point lead twice in the game, the latest at 20-17 after Hardy hit two free throws.

HBU ended the half on an 11-0 run in the final 4:45 to take a 28-20 lead at the break. McNeese went the final 7:14 without a field goal and a 3 for 4 showing at the free throw line. The Cowboys missed their final 10 shots during that span.

The Cowboys will hit the conference road for the first time this season when they visit Texas A&M-Corpus Christi on Saturday night.