HAMMOND--  McNeese women's basketball played league-leading Southeastern Louisiana close for the final three quarters but dug themselves too deep a hole in the first quarter in its 65-45 Southland Conference loss Thursday night.
 
Southeastern (21-3, 15-0) took a 26-4 first quarter lead and McNeese (8-17, 3-11 SLC) couldn't overcome that big of a deficit.
 
Kiayra Ellis and Boston Berry both led the Cowgirls with 10 points apiece.  Berry also led the Cowgirls with eight rebounds, nearly picking up her first double double of the season.
 
Southeastern was led in scoring by Arianna Patton and Alexius Horne who both led all players with 15 points.  Patton scored all her points in the first half while Horne scored nine of her 15 in the first half.  
 
The Lions started the game by scoring the first five points then went on a 14-0 run to lead 19-2 in the first seven minutes of the game.
 
After a Boston Berry basket, Southeastern ended the quarter on a 7-0 run to lead by 22 points (26-4).
 
The teams played to an even 14 points in the second quarter with Southeastern holding a 40-18 halftime lead.
 
McNeese outscored Southeastern 27-25 in the final two quarters outscoring the Lions 16-15 in the third and 11-10 in the fourth.
 
The Cowgirls ended the game shooting 31.5 percent from the field and Southeastern shot 35.5 percent from the field.  The Lions also got 15 of their points from the free throw line in 20 attempts.  The Cowgirls were 9 of 17 from the free throw line.
 
McNeese will travel to UNO Saturday for the first meeting against the Privateers this season.