Box Score KATY, Texas— McNeese women's basketball season came to an end and it was also the end of careers for five Cowgirl seniors (Keara Hudnall, Dede Sheppard, Jasmyn Carswell, Gabby Guidry, Mercedes Rogers), here Thursday in a 75-52 loss to Texas A&M-CC in the first round of the Southland Conference Tournament. McNeese ends its season with a 12-18 record.
 
"They (Texas A7M-CC) hit some big time shots in big moments but credit our kids, they continued to battle and continued to fight. That's been us all year, we don't give up even though we went through some ups and downs. I'm really proud of these girls for that," said head coach Kacie Cryer.
 
McNeese's offense struggled the whole game and couldn't find a remedy for the Islanders' offense.
 
Sheppard and Hudnall, two of five seniors playing their final game as a Cowgirl, led McNeese in scoring with 20 and 10 points, respectively. Sheppard was 7-of-13 from the field including 3-of-6 from three-point range. Hudnall was 4-of-9 and made two of her three point attempts.  
 
McNeese ended the game shooting 32.8 percent from the field and were outrebounded 50-36. The Islanders got 21 offensive boards that led to 16 second chance points. The Islanders also scored 36 of their points in the paint and had four players score in double figures.
 
"Offensive rebounding was a big difference in the game but credit Corpus today for the way they played."
 
Brittany Mbamalu who was closely guarded by Sheppard for most of the game still found a way to leads all players with a game high 22 points with 15 coming from behind the arc. Mbamalu was 6-of-12 for the game including 5-of-9 three's. Kre'Ana Henry scored 16 while Dae Dae Evans and Emma Young both chipped in with 10 apiece.
 
After trailing 18-17 after the first quarter, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi outscored McNeese 57-35 in the final three quarters.
 
McNeese trailed by as many as eight points (16-8) with three minutes left in the first quarter before the Cowgirls put together a 7-0 run spearheaded by five straight points from Dede Sheppard to cut the lead to 16-15.
 
The Cowgirls tied the game at 18 all early in the second quarter on a Sheppard free throw then the Islanders went on a 12-0 run to take a 30-18 lead midway through the quarter. Rogers ended the Cowgirl scoring drought with a three-pointer with 3:11 left in the quarter.
 
McNeese got as close as 15 points (41-26) early in the third period but A&M-CC took a 20 point lead with 4:20 left in the quarter and held a 20-point lead for the remainder of the game.