LAKE CHARLES—McNeese women's basketball will look to begin their Christmas break on a winning note Friday when the Cowgirls travel to Houston for a 6 p.m. game at Rice. The game is the last game for McNeese before taking a 10-day Christmas break.
 
The game will be broadcast on the McNeese Sports Network, Cajun Radio (1470/1290 AM). Audio is available at Cajunradio.com. Tyler Williams will deliver the play-by-play. All links are available on McNeesesports.com.
 
McNeese (5-4) will look to bounce back from a 76-59 road loss at third-ranked Texas on Wednesday.  The Cowgirls trailed by as many as 27 points early in the second half before cutting that deficit to 10 points with 11 minutes to play.
 
Juniors Allison Baggett and Jayln Johnson combined for 42 of the Cowgirls' 59 points with Baggett scoring a game-high 22 and Johnson chipping in 20 with 18 coming in the second half. Baggett leads the team in scoring with 17.7 ppg. and an 89.5 free throw shooting percent.  Johnson is second on the team in scoring with 10.0 ppg. and leads the Cowgirls with 2.4 apg.
 
Rice (3-4) is on a two game losing streak and returns to the court following 13 days off for finals. Rice's most recent loss (70-59) came against Southland Conference foe Stephen F. Austin on December 6. Jasmine Goodwin is the Owls' only player averaging in double digits with 13.0 ppg. Christal Porter leads Rice in rebounds with 12.3 per contest.
 
Rice holds a 5-3 all-time record against McNeese.  McNeese picked up a 65-54 win in Lake Charles last season.