LAKE CHARLES—McNeese women's basketball opened its season and head coach Kacie Cryer's debut here Saturday with a 77-70 loss to Louisiana-Lafayette.
 
"I was really pleased with a lot of things we did today," said head coach Kacie Cryer. "We played so hard and we gave it our all. We have to learn to keep our composer including the coaching staff. We are all new but I think everything went really well even though the outcome didn't turn out the way we would have liked."
 
McNeese (0-1) held the lead up until the first two minutes of the fourth quarter and held as much as a 16-point lead in the second quarter. The Cowgirls offense didn't let the Ragin' Cajun full-court press bother them in the first half. It was a different story in the second half when the Cajuns turned up their defensive intensity and the Cowgirls got rattled and began to turn the ball over and miss easy layups.
 
McNeese's offense looked good early and the Cowgirls were rolling along until late in the third period when the Cowgirls went cold and committed a few costly turnovers. McNeese held a 55-46 lead with 3:18 left in the third period but the Ragin' Cajuns put together a scoring run to outscore the Cowgirls 13-2 to take a 59-57 lead on two free throws by Jayln Gordon with 9:44 left in the game. UL-Lafayette extended its lead to 11 points with 4:03 left in the contest but the Cowgirls put together a run of its own to score the games next six points to cut the lead to three (73-70). McNeese ended the game with 25 turnovers and UL-Lafayette committed 16.
 
The Cowgirl rally began with an old fashion three-point play by Caitlin Daivs followed by a Mady Brasseaux three-pointer to cut the lead to five (73-68). One minute later Jasmyn Carswell sank two free throws to cut the lead to three. The Cowgirls weren't able to come away with steals and were forced to foul with :35 left to play. UL-Lafayette took advantage and scored the games final four points from the free throw line.  
 
McNeese had a trio of players score in double figures and was led by senior Vitoria Rachal's 23 points. Rachal was 8 of 18 from the field including 5 of 7 from behind the arc. Juniors Mercedes Rogers and Jasmyn Carswell chipped in 12 and 10, respectively. Junior Frederica Haywood, who entered the game 11^th in career rebounds picked up 12 to add to her total.
 
Simone Fields and Jaylyn Gordon combined for 54 of the UL-Lafayette's 77 points. Fields recorded a double-double by scoring a game high 28 points and 13 rebounds. Gordon added 26 points with 18 coming in the second half after scoring only eight in the first quarter and being held scoreless in the second quarter.
 
McNeese will continue its five game home stand on Monday, Nov. 14 when the Cowgirls host Southern-New Orleans in a 6 p.m. game.