HOUSTON, Texas—Wilnie Joseph recorded her first career double double as McNeese women's basketball held on to defeat Houston Christian 61-51 Thursday night for its second straight Southland Conference win. 
 
With the win, McNeese improves to 7-8 overall and 2-2 in the SLC.  The loss drops HCU to 4-10 overall and 1-4 in the SLC.
 
Once again, Paris Guillory led the Cowgirls in scoring with 19 points and nearly missed her second straight double double by one rebound, ending the game with nine rebounds. Guillory has now scored in all six games she has played in this season.
 
Joseph scored 10 points and tied Mireia Yespes with a game high 11 rebounds to produce the double double.  Joseph was five of five from the field with seven of her 11 rebounds coming on the defensive end.
 
Ty Williams scored a career high 13 points and dished out six assists while Kiayra Ellis added 10 points and pulled down eight rebounds
 
McNeese opened the game by scoring the first eight points and held an 18-7 first quarter lead while HCU missed its first 10 field goal attempts. 
 
The Cowgirls continued to build on its lead and held a 28-7 margin, three minutes into the second quarter.
 
HCU then went to its full-court press later in the second quarter and that gave the Cowgirls trouble the rest of the game. 
 
After committing only one turnover in the first quarter, the press caused the Cowgirls to turn the ball over 13 times in the second quarter, but McNeese maintained a 30-18 halftime lead.
 
The Huskies came out of the half and scored the first four points to cut the lead to 30-22.  With the Cowgirls going through a six-minute scoring drought, HCU got as close as three points (41-38) later in the third quarter before an Azjah Reeves three-pointer upped the Cowgirl lead back to six points (44-38) with 1:52 left in the quarter.
 
Leading 51-46 with 5:14 left in the game, the Cowgirls went scoreless for the next two minutes before Guillory drained a clutch three-pointer to up the Cowgirl lead to 54-46.
 
McNeese scored its final seven points from the free throw line as the Cowgirls ate up most of the time on offense before HCU committed a foul.
 
The Cowgirls ended the game shooting 43.8 percent from the field on 21 of 48 attempts and 81.3 percent (13 of 16) from the free throw line and outrebounded the Huskies 48-31 with 41 rebounds coming on defense.
 
HCU shot 25.4 percent (17 of 67) from the field and 70.0 percent (14 of 20) from the free throw line.
 
McNeese will return home this Saturday to host Nicholls at 1 p.m. in the first of three straight home games for the Cowgirls.
 
McNEESE NOTES
• It's the second straight conference win
• The seven wins is one more than all of last year
• McNeese scored the game's first eight points and held HCU to seven first quarter points
• The Cowgirls outscored HCU 30-18 in the second half
• Four Cowgirls scored in double figures (Paris Guillory-19, Ty Williams- 13, Kiayra Ellis- 10, Wilnie Joseph- 10)
• Wilnie Joseph recorded her first career double double (10 pts., and tied for a team high 11 reb.)
• Guillory has now scored in double figures in all six games she has played
• Guillory nearly recorded her second straight double double, missing by one rebound
• Mireia Yespes also tied for a team high 11 rebounds.  It's her 10^th career game with double figure rebounds
• Williams' 13 points is her career high.  She also tied her career high with six assists
• Ellis picked up a career high five blocks
• McNeese outrebounded HCU 48-31 with 41 coming on defense
• The Cowgirls shot 43.8 percent from the field and HCU shot 25.4 percent from the field
• McNeese shot 81.3 percent (13-16) and HCU shot 70.0 percent (14-20) from the free throw line
• McNeese turned the ball over a season high 34 times
  
 
COWGIRLS UPCOMING SCHEDULE
Sat., Jan. 11 Nicholls (1 p.m./ESPN+)
Thu., Jan. 16 Stephen F. Austin (6 p.m./ESPN+)
Sat., Jan. 18 Lamar (1 p.m./ESPN+)
Thu., Jan. 23 at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (7 p.m./ESPN+)
Sat., Jan. 25 at UTRGV (2 p.m./ESPN+)
Thu., Jan. 30 Incarnate Word (6 p.m./ESPN+)