JONESBORO, Ark.— McNeese women's basketball suffered its first loss of the season in a 96-72 road loss at Arkansas State Monday night to fall to 2-1 on the year.
 
"It wasn't our best night both offensively and defensively and if that happens on the road, it's hard to overcome," said Kennedy. "Give Arkansas State a lot of credit, they played extremely well and they have a good team. As a young team, we have to learn from the challenges we faced in this game and continue to improve.  We need to be better in all aspects of the game."
 
Three Cowgirls scored in double figures with Zuzanna Kulinska leading the way with a game high 16 points on 7 of 13 from the field and two free throws. Kaili Chamberlin and Taylor Wilkins both came off the bench to pitch in 13 apiece. Chamberlin was 4 of 9 from the field with two free throws and Wilkins was 3 of 7 from the field and perfect from the free throw line (6 for 6). Divine Tanks came off the bench to lead the Cowgirls with six rebounds.
 
The Red Wolves (2-1) had five players in double figures and were led by Morgan Wallace and Jade Upshaw who both had 14 points apiece. Trinitee Jackson led all players with eight rebounds.
 
Arkansas State jumped out to an 11-1 lead in the first three minutes of the game and never looked back. The Cowgirls struggled on offense from the opening tip missing their first four field goal attempts. Zuzanna Kulinska ended the drought from the field with a layup at the 6:42 mark of the first quarter.
 
Arkansas State held as much as a 12-point lead in the first quarter but the Cowgirls cut it to single digits several times before the Red Wolves went on a run to extend their lead to 13 (27-14) and then led 31-20 after the first stanza.
 
The Cowgirls, who entered the game ranked fourth in the nation in three-pointers made per game weren't able to connect on the four attempts from the arc in the first quarter and ended the game making five in 26 attempts.
  
Arkansas State held a 49-34 lead and opened the second half on a 7-0 scoring run to extend the lead to 56-34 then ended the quarter making four of its last five shots to take a 72-50 lead into the final period.
 
McNeese will take a few days off before returning to the court Sunday when they will travel to UT-Rio Grande Valley for a 2 p.m. game.