FARMVILLE, Va.—McNeese women's basketball fell short in its comeback Friday, falling 57-48 to William & Mary on the opening day of the Shirley Duncan Classic. 
 
McNeese (4-5) will play South Carolina State at 5 p.m. (CST) Saturday and Longwood at 2:30 p.m. (CST) on Sunday to conclude the tournament. 
 
South Carolina State fell 67-60 to Longwood in the opening game of the tournament Friday morning to fall to 1-9 overall.
 
Freshman Lyla Kahrimanovic came off the bench to lead the Cowgirls with 12 points.  Kahrimanovic was 6 of 8 from the field with three rebounds.
 
Senior Mireia Yespes recorded her fifth double double of the season by scoring 11 points and grabbing 10 rebounds including seven on the defensive end.
 
William & Mary was led in scoring by Anahi-Lee Cauley's 12 points.
 
W&M held as much as an eight-point lead (18-10) in the second quarter, but Kahrimanovic sparked a 6-0 Cowgirl run to end the half to pull the Cowgirls to within one point (20-19) going into halftime.
 
W&M began the second half on a 9-0 run to up its lead to 29-19 and outscored the Cowgirls 22-11 in the third quarter to extend its lead 42-30. 
 
W&M held a 46-32 lead early in the fourth quarter, but the Cowgirls slowly began to chip away at the lead and cut it to seven points,  (49-42) with 3:36 to play.
 
Two free throws and a turnaround jumper in the paint by Kiayra Ellis cut it to 10 but a three-pointer by Monet Dance upped the W&M lead back to 13.
 
Back-to-back layups by Yespes and a layup by Kahrimanovic cut the lead to seven (49-42)  again with 3.36 to play.  The Cowgirls cut the lead to seven points three more times and then got as close as five points with 27 seconds to play.
 
Trailing by five points with 27 seconds to play, the Cowgirls missed two chances to at least cut into the lead and potentially take the lead but misses by Davis and Yespes put the Cowgirls in a situation where they had to foul, and W&M made their free throws down the stretch.
 
Neither team shot the ball well from the field.  William and Mary shot 32.8 percent from the field (20 for 61) and the Cowgirls ended the game shooting 30.2 percent (19 of 63) including 1 of 9 from three-point range.  The Cowgirls also struggled from the free throw line, making only nine of their 23 attempts.  W&M was 4 of 25 from behind the arc and 13 of 18 from the free throw line today.
 
FIRST QUARTER
• William and Mary went on a 6-0 run late in the first quarter and held a 13-8 lead
• McNeese went through a nine-minute scoring drought before Julie Puente scored on a layup with six minutes left in the quarter to pull the Cowgirls to within five points (15-10).
 
SECOND QUARTER
• McNeese ended the half on a 6-0 run to trail 20-19
• Lyla Kahrimanovic came off the bench to spark a Cowgirl scoring run and scored six of the Cowgirls' final eight points of the half.
 
THIRD QUARTER
• William & Mary opened the second half by scoring the first nine points to lead 29-19 and went on to outscore the Cowgirls 22-11 in the quarter to hold a 42-30 lead
 
FOURTH QUARTER
• McNeese cut the lead to seven points (49-42) with 3:33 to play and again (51-44) with 1:49 left. 
• A floating jumper by Ty Williams cut the lead to five points (53-48) with 27 seconds left in the game.
•. McNeese came up empty on its last two possessions of the game that could have either cut into the lead or potentially given the Cowgirls the lead.
 
 
GAME NOTES
• It's the first of three games in a three-day span
• McNeese will play South Carolina State Saturday and Longwood on Sunday
• Lyla Kahrimanovic led the Cowgirls in scoring with 12 points. It's the fifth game she scored in double figures
• Mireia Yespes recorded her fifth career double double (11 points, 10 rebounds)