KATY, TEXAS—McNeese women's basketball team bowed out of the Southland Conference Tournament with a 70-68 opening round loss to No. 8 seed Houston Baptist on Thursday, ending the season with a 17-13 overall record.
 
"Hats off to HBU, I thought they were extremely well coached and played a lot of effort and fire from the start," said head coach Brooks Donald Williams. "I felt like they couldn't miss and do no wrong to start the game."
 
Senior Talisa Boyd ended her playing career with a double-double (14 points, 12 rebounds). Jayln Johnson led all players with a game high 17 and Allison Baggett chipped in 11. Johnson also ended the game with eight assists.
 
McNeese fought back from a 17-point first half deficit only to fall short in the end. The Cowgirls outscored HBU 15-2 in the final four minutes of the first half to go into the locker room trailing 39-35.
 
The Cowgirls opened the second half with a bucket to get to within two points (39-37). McNeese stayed within striking distance but couldn't get the break they needed as HBU was able to get key rebounds and made key shots down the stretch to pull off the upset.
 
"Houston Baptist did a good job defensively of limiting us to one shot and that's something that we have been fairly strong at, as of late," Williams said.
 
McNeese took the lead once in the game with 3:22 left to play on a Jasmyn Carswell jumper. The lead didn't last long as HBU responded with a basket the next trip down the floor to regain the lead.
 
HBU held a three-point lead with 38 seconds left in the game but McNeese's Amber Donnes made a layup and was fouled with 14 second left. Donnes missed the free throw that would have tied the game at 66 apiece.
 
 With seven seconds left and McNeese trailing 66-65, a flagrant foul was called on Boyd after she and HBU's Tayler Jefferson went after a loose ball. Jefferson made both free throws to give the Huskies a 67-65 lead. HBU retained possession and Heidi Sihvola was fouled with five seconds. She also made both free throws for a 70-65 HBU lead.  Donnes closed out the Cowgirls' scoring by hitting a three with two seconds left.
 
The Cowgirls got off to a slow start in the game and Houston Baptist was the opposite, hitting their first four and only three-pointers of the game to jump out to a 16-8 in the first seven minutes of the game. The Huskies were 0-6 from behind the arc in the second half. HBU also dominated the boards, outrebounding McNeese 51-33.
"Our future is extremely bright, we have 12 freshmen and sophomores on the roster. I'm really excited about moving forward," said Williams.