HAMMOND – The race for the 2025 Southland Conference Women's Basketball Tournament will heat up on Thursday night for the McNeese Cowgirls when they visit first place and league unbeaten Southeastern.
 
Tip-off is scheduled for 6 p.m. at SLU's University Center. The game will broadcast on ESPN+ and on the McNeese Radio Network (Talk Radio 1470 and talk1470.com).
 
The Cowgirls (8-16 overall) are tied with A&M-Corpus Christi and East Texas A&M at 3-10 in league play and for the final tournament spot. New Orleans, who the Cowgirls will visit on Saturday at 2 p.m., is just one game back at 2-11 (2-20 overall) while HCU sits at 3-11.
 
Four of the Cowgirls' next seven opponents are in seventh place or lower in the standings. McNeese will host UNO on March 4 in the regular season finale.
 
Southeastern (20-3, 14-0 SLC) has cruised through the league slate so far, winning 10 of its 14 games by double-digits. The Lions have won 14-straight games overall and are attempting to become just the ninth team in league history to post an undefeated conference record and the first since 2021 (SFA, 14-0).
 
McNeese has dropped four straight games and eight out of their last nine but has been hit by the injury bug the last few games.
 
Leading scorer Paris Guillory (15.4 ppg) injured her ankle against East Texas A&M on Feb. 6 and missed the Northwestern State game two days later. She'll be out again against SLU and likely at New Orleans as she works to get back onto the court.
 
Mireia Yespes, who leads the team in rebounding (7.5 rpg) and is fourth in scoring (8.1 ppg) has missed the last 5 ½ games after being injured at UTRGV on Jan. 25 which put her in concussion protocol since. She's questionable to return.
 
Southeastern defeated the Cowgirls 82-56 in Lake Charles on Dec. 21 to open up league play and the Lions have won eight consecutive games in the series.