LAKE CHARLES—McNeese women's basketball advanced to Tuesday's second round of the 2023 Jersey Mike's Southland Conference Tournament presented by Louisiana Travel with an 87-82 overtime win over New Orleans Monday afternoon.
For McNeese (12-18) it's the first time since 2017 the Cowgirls have advanced to the second round. McNeese will face No. 3 seed Lamar (18-11) at 1:30 p.m. Tuesday at the Legacy Center.
McNeese placed four players in double figures with
Kaili Chamberlin and
Desirae Hansen leading the way with 19 points apiece.
Divine Tanks scored 16 points and
Stephanie Guihon came off the bench to score 14 including eight of the Cowgirls' 15 points in overtime.
UNO had two players scored in double figures with DeArica Pryor leading all players with 35 points. Prior had 19 points at the half. Justice Ross chipped in with 11 points.
With the scored tied at 34 at the half, McNeese held as much as an eight-point lead (49-41) with 3:41 left in the quarter and led by two points (54-52) heading into the fourth period.
After UNO tied the game at 54, Hansen connected on back-to-back three-pointers to put the Cowgirls up 60-54 early in the fourth quarter. UNO led by four points with 1:03 left in regulation but Guihon put the Cowgirls on her back and cut the lead to two points on a layup with 52 seconds left then tied the game at 72 all with two free throws with 18 seconds left. Both teams had a chance to take the lead in the final 14 seconds, but UNO turned the ball over on a travel and McNeese turned the ball over with one second left sending the game into overtime.
Guihon came up big in overtime. With McNeese trailing by three (77-74), the Cowgirls went on a 5-0 run spearheaded by back-to-back layups by Guihon and four points by
Paris Mullins for an 82-77 lead with 49 seconds left. UNO cut the lead to two points on a three-pointer on its next possession, but McNeese iced the game at the free throw line where they scored their final five points.
McNeese shot 40.3 percent from the field including 41.2 percent from three-point range and 75.0 percent from the free throw line, making 30 of 40 attempts.
