LAKE CHARLES— Sixth seed McNeese women's basketball looked like it was playing in the comforts of its regular home arena in an 87-70 WBI opening round win over third seed Furman Thursday night, despite playing in the Lake Charles Civic Center, its home away from home.
McNeese (18-13) will travel to the West Region second seed Louisiana-Lafayette this Saturday, March 21 for a 7 p.m. game. The game will be played at the Earl K. Long Gym located on campus.
The 87 points scored by the Cowgirls is the third highest scoring output this season. The scoring was spread amongst 11 players who scored at least two points. Four Cowgirls scored in double figures with
Jayln Johnson leading McNeese with 16 points.
Allison Baggett and
Victoria Rachal scored 13 and
Amber Donnes chipped in 11.
Frederica Haywood grabbed a team-high nine rebounds and
Talisa Boyd and
Jasmyn Carswell both had eight apiece.
The Cowgirls shot 40.6 from the field including 45.5 from three-point range and made 26 of 33 from the free throw line for a 78.8 percent. McNeese dominated the board by outrebounding Furman 50-35.
After Furman scored the first points of the game, McNeese's offense took over as the Cowgirls scored the next nine points to take a 9-3 lead and one it never would give up. Every time Furman made a run, the Cowgirls responded with a run of their own.
Hannah Cupit's jumper with 11:06 left in the first half gave McNeese their first double-digit lead (25-14). McNeese built up as much as a 16-point lead before going into the half with a 42-29 lead.
McNeese opened the second half on an 11-6 run to take its largest lead of the game of 18 points (53-35) four minutes into the half. Furman would get as close as seven points (70-63) with 5:52 but head coach Brooks Donald Williams sent Baggett and Johnson back into the game and the two helped McNeese to quickly get their double digit lead back. Johnson scored seven of the Cowgirls' final 16 points from the free throw line to seal the win.
Furman's season ends with a 19-14 record. The Paladins also had four players score in double figures. Holli Wilkins scored a game-high 22 points. Whitney Bunn scored 12 and Kelsey Ellis and Cierra Carter both chipped in 10 apiece.
