LAKE CHARLES—McNeese State will recognize its two women's basketball seniors- Allison Baggett and Jayln Johnson 15 minutes prior to its 1 p.m. home finale against Nicholls Saturday.
 
McNeese (18-10, 10-6 SLC) clinched a Southland Conference Tournament spot with its 76-69 win at Lamar Wednesday. With two games remaining, the Cowgirls are playing for seeding and at least a first round bye. The top two teams will receive a double bye while the third and fourth seeds receive a first round bye. McNeese enters Saturday's game in fourth place behind Central Arkansas, Northwestern State and Stephen F. Austin. Abilene Christian and Incarnate Word are ineligible for postseason play.
 
The Cowgirls will be looking to avenge an 85-81 loss at Nicholls earlier this month. McNeese leads the all-time series 53-19 but have lost to the Colonels in the last five meetings. The last McNeese win over Nicholls was at the Southland Conference tournament during the 2012-13 season. McNeese defeated the Colonels 86-70 in the second round.
 
Seniors Jayln Johnson and Allison Baggett have done their part to put the Cowgirls in a position to earn one of the top four spots in the conference tournament but it has been the bench that has given McNeese a spark in the last two games against Lamar. The Cowgirls have used their entire bench in both games against Lamar and they have produced on both offense and defense which is a huge plus heading into the final week of the season and the conference tournament.
 
Johnson continues to lead the Cowgirls in scoring (15.1 ppg.) and ranks third in the nation with a 91.2 free throw percent. Johnson is two assists shy of becoming McNeese's career leader. She enters Saturday's game with 529 career assists. Former Cowgirl standout Caitlyn Baggett holds the record with 530. Johnson also leads the Cowgirls with 5.0 assists and 1.3 steals and has scored in double figures in 11 of the last 12 games.
 
Baggett is second on the team in scoring with 13.8 ppg. and is coming off a game high 24 points against Lamar. She has scored in double figures in five of the last seven games.
 
Frederica Haywood continues to dominate on the glass and is coming off her third double double of the season with 12 points and 15 rebounds in the win at Lamar. Haywood is averaging 8.7 rebounds per game and is fourth in the SLC with 10.3 in conference games only.
 
Nicholls (9-16, 7-8 SLC) snapped a three game losing streak with a 70-55 home win over New Orleans Wednesday and enter the game tied with Houston Baptist for fifth place in the league standings. The Colonels have three players averaging in double figures. LiAnn McCarthy leads the team with 13.4 ppg., Barrios Cassidy is averaging 11.2 ppg. and Tia Charles is averaging 10.4 ppg. Marina Lilly leads Nicholls with 6.7 rpg.