Box Score AUSTIN, Texas—McNeese women's basketball struggled with the full-court press and inside game of No. 2 Texas here Wednesday at the Frank Erwin Center with a 100-34 loss in front of 7,651 in attendance including over 5,000 kids from grades four through seven in their annual 40 Acres Field Trip. 
 
"Credit Texas, obviously they are the No. 2 team in the nation for a reason," said head coach Kacie Cryer. "We obviously got out to a slower start then we wanted to and we didn't handle their press as well as I thought we would. Our shots didn't fall early but we cleaned things up as the game went along. There are a lot of positives that we can take from this experience because we have a big stretch on our end. I thought our kids battled from start to finish and that is all I can ask of them."
 
Senior Mercedes Rogers led McNeese in scoring with seven points and freshman Bre'Ashlee Jones led the Cowgirls with five rebounds. Texas had three players score in double figures with senior Ariel Atkin needing 17 points to reach the 1,000 point plateau, she ended with a game high 23. Khaleann Caron-Goudreau and Jada Underwood chipped in with 11 points apiece. Texas commanded the boards by outrebounding McNeese 50-30.
 
Texas (3-0) opened the game with back-to-back treys and never looked back. Senior Keara Hudnall put the Cowgirls (1-1) on the board with a long two-pointer early in game. Texas continued its scoring output and held a 58-14 halftime lead behind a 55.0 field goal shooting percent on 22 of 40 from the field and 8 of 11 from behind the arc. The Cowgirls were 4 of 26 from the field and 0-8 from three-point range
 
The Texas defense forced McNeese to turn the ball over 28 times, 11 coming in the first quarter. The Cowgirls would eventually settle down to have a good third quarter by scoring 14 points in the quarter after being held to single digits the previous two. When the Cowgirls were able to break the press, the much taller Texas team turned back a few of the Cowgirl attempts with blocks. The Cowgirls put forth the effort throughout the game but Texas had too much fire power.  
 
McNeese will return home for three straight games beginning with a 2 p.m. game against LSU-Alexandria