ABILENE, Texas— Jayln Johnson scored a season high 25 points here Wednesday but it wasn't enough as the Cowgirls fall 79-62 to league leading Abilene Christian in Southland Conference action.
 
Johnson was the only Cowgirl to score in double figures as she was 6 of 19 from the field and perfect from the free throw line, making all 11 attempts. Frederica Haywood led McNeese in rebounds with eight.
 
Coming off their season best shooting night against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, the Cowgirls struggled from the field here tonight, ending the night with a 26.9 field goal percent. The Cowgirls finished the game making only two of 10 attempts from the field while the Wildcats made eight of the last nine from as they outscored the Cowgirls 24-14 in the final period. The Cowgirls shot 22.6 percent (7-31) from three-point range and 90.5 percent from the free throw line.
 
ACU dominated the Cowgirls in the paint by outscoring McNeese 38-18 and also outrebounded McNeese 48-39.  McNeese only managed to get to the free throw line once in the second half with two free throws by Amber Donnes late in the game.
 
The Cowgirls struggled to get back on defense as ACU pushed the ball up the court every chance they could and jumped out to a 10-0 run. That's when Cowgirl senior guard Jayln Johnson took matters into her own hands and scored the Cowgirls' first 10 points of the game and 10 of the Cowgirls' 11 first quarter points.
 
McNeese opened the second quarter on a 4-0 run to cut the ACU lead to three but the Wildcats responded with a 6-0 run to take a 26-17 lead with 6:20 left in the quarter. McNeese continued to chip away at the lead and eventually took their first lead of the game on two free throws by Jasmyn Carswell with three minutes left. Two more free throws by Johnson gave McNeese a three point lead but ACU retook the lead on four free throws. A long three-pointer by Hannah Cupit with :26 seconds left brought the Cowgirls to within one 37-36 at the break. 
 
The Cowgirls took their final lead of the game early in the third quarter but once ACU retook the lead at 39-38 with 8:26 left in the quarter they never looked back. ACU's Alexis Mason hit a three-pointer just in front of the half court line as time expired in the quarter to give the Wildcats a 55-48 lead.
 
McNeese would cut the lead to seven early in the fourth quarter but ACU went on an 11-5 run to take a 68-55 lead with less than five minutes to play.
 
McNeese will return home for its next four games including a 1 p.m. game against Sam Houston State on Saturday.