CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas—McNeese women's basketball team ran into a hot shooting Texas A&M-Corpus Christi team that handed the Cowgirls their first Southland Conference loss of the season, 76-65 on Saturday at the Dugan Wellness Center.
McNeese, 0-5 on the road this season, trailed for most of the game but made a late rally, only to fall short. The Cowgirls trailed by as much as 15 points with 8:37 to play but cut the lead to seven with 5:09 left. The Islanders outscored the Cowgirls 13-9 to end the game and went on to pick up their sixth win of the season and to 2-1 in league play.
Allison Baggett led all players with 26 points, scoring 16 first half points. Baggett scored the Cowgirls' first 10 points of the game, ending the night with 10 of 18 from the field.
Jayln Johnson, who entered the game averaging 12.4 ppg., was held in check for the game, scored only two points and those came with 45 seconds left in the game.
Freshman
Ann Nwosah, who played in place of
Frederica Haywood, scored a career high 15 points. Nwosah was 3 of 6 from the field and 9 of 10 from the free throw line. Haywood didn't make the trip due to a death in the family.
The Cowgirls were outrebounded 41-27 and gave up 36 points in the paint. TAMU-CC's Olivia Fouty ended the game with her seventh double double of the season (15 pts., 11 reb.). Shay Weaver, who led the Islanders with 25 points, joined Fouty in double figures. Camesha Davis scored 16 and Kassie Jones chipped in with 12.
McNeese started the second half on a 7-1 run to cut the Islander lead to seven (43-36) but Weaver upped that lead back to 10 points on a three. The Islanders continued to hold a double figure lead and held its largest lead of the game of 18 points with 10 minutes left.
Texas A&M-CC came out shooting lights out in the first half and held a 42-29 lead at the break, closing the first half on a three-pointer at the buzzer by Jones. The Islanders shot 52.9 percent from the field (18-34) including a 57.1 three-point field goal percent (4-7) and scored 20 of their points in the paint in the first half
McNeese held the lead for the first five minutes of the game but went on a scoring drought and senior
Talisa Boyd went to the bench in foul trouble and remained there for the remainder of the first half. That's when the Islanders took advantage in the paint.
The Islanders ended the game shooting 50.0 percent from the field and 46.2 percent from three-point range.
McNeese will return home Wednesday to face Abilene Christian before hitting the road for four straight.
