LAKE CHARLES— Juniors Mercedes Rogers and Frederica Haywood recorded double-doubles her Thursday night to lead the McNeese women's basketball team in an 88-47 win over Louisiana College. Rogers and Haywood were two of five Cowgirls to score in double figures.

The double-doubles are the first of the season for both players and fourth career for Rogers and sixth career for Haywood.

Rogers, the native of Crowley, Louisiana, led all players with a career high 19 points along with a game high 13 rebounds. She was 5 of 9 from the field and 8 of 10 from the free throw line.

Heywood, the product of Mound Bayou, Mississippi, scored 10 points and for the third game in a row grabbed double figure rebounds with 10 , moving into the Top 10 in McNeese career rebounds with 548 surpassing both Natalie Randall and Cecilia Okoye.

McNeese (2-1) scored at lead 24 points in each of the first three quarters and outrebounded the Wildcats 55-29 for the game. The Cowgirls scored almost half of their points (42) in the paint and scored 24 off 22 Louisiana College turnovers.

"After our game Monday night, we came back and really focused on our defense," said head coach Kacie Cryer. "This team can score and its obvious with the points we have been putting up but what we need to do is to continue to get better on defense and rebounding. I'm really proud of the effort tonight and the intensity that we started the game with."

For the third straight game Victoria Rachal, the Cowgirls' leading scorer reached the double-digit plateau with 17 points. Freshmen Regan Bolton and Caitlin Davis both chipped in with 13 and 10 points respectively. It's also the second straight game for both rookies to score in double figures.

Davis scored the games first five points of the game to help McNeese jump out to an 11-3 lead in the first two and a half minutes of the game. The Cowgirls continued its hot shooting from three-point range and were 3 of 4 from behind the arc during that span. McNeese ended the game with nine three-pointers.

Louisiana College got as close as seven points (18-11) with 4:14 left in the first period but the Cowgirls outscored the Wildcats 7-2 to close out the period to take a 25-13 lead.

 The Cowgirls put together several more scoring runs in the second quarter that included back-to-back treys by Mady Brasseaux and Bolton. McNeese ended the quarter on a 7-1 run and outscored La. College 24-7 in he quarter to go into the locker room with a 49-20 halftime lead.
McNeese continued to extend its lead and held as much as a 48-point lead with 6:26 to play.

The Cowgirls will continue their five game home stand next Tuesday when they will host Wiley College in a 2 p.m. game.