NEW ORLEANS— McNeese women's basketball used a scoring spurt that started late in the third quarter to pull away from New Orleans here Saturday on its way to a 75-64 win to improve to 11-13 overall and 6-5 in SLC play.
"We got up early in the game but lost some momentum and you have to give UNO a lot of credit, they played hard and they are playing better than the last time we saw them last time," said head coach
Lynn Kennedy. "We regained the momentum back but lost it again at the end of the second quarter. Coming out of the third quarter, it was important for us to step up our intensity on defense and we did that. Offensively, we started executing and started getting to the basket again. We are continuing to learn and grow as a team and as a coach that's all you can ask for."
McNeese led 40-39 at the half held as much as 12 points (30-18) early in the second quarter.
The third quarter went back and forth until the Cowgirls ended the quarter on a 5-0 run to take a 62-54 lead into the fourth period.
McNeese opened the final quarter by outscoring UNO 5-2 in the first three minutes and held as much as a 13-point lead twice in the quarter, the last (75-62) with 2:06 to play on two
Le'Shenae Stubblefield free throws.
Kaili Chamberlin gave McNeese its first 13-point lead on a three-pointer with 7:17 left in the game.
The Cowgirls shot 49 percent from the field (25 of 51) including 7 of 18 from behind the arc to go along with 18 of 24 free throws.
Desirae Hansen led all players with 21 points, two shy of tying her season high. Hansen ended the game going 8 for 13 and connected on 5 of 7 three-pointers to go along with her eight rebounds.
Divine Tanks led all players with 11 rebounds for her second straight game with 11 boards.
McNeese also got double figure scoring from Chamberlin (18) and a season high 17 from Stubblefield.
UNO fell to 2-15 overall and 1-9 in Southland Conference play with the loss. Jomyra Mathis led the Privateers with 20 points and nine rebounds.
The Cowgirls will return home next week to host Texas A&M-Corpus Christi on Thursday before its home finale against Incarnate Word Saturday.
