LAKE CHARLES— McNeese women's basketball took a step back Thursday night in its 67-44 home loss to UTRGV in a game that would have helped the Cowgirls move closer to securing a spot in the Southland Conference Tournament with a win.

The loss drops McNeese to 9-18 overall and 4-12 in the SLC while UTRGV improves to 15-13 overall and 10-7 in the SLC.

The Cowgirls never got off to a good start and things just kept going downhill from a 21-10 first quarter deficit.

Boston Berry was the bright spot for McNeese as she was the only Cowgirl to score in double figures, ending the game with 11 point.  Another bright spot for the Cowgirls was its eight turnovers, one of its lowest number of turnovers this season. Kyla Davis led McNeese with seven rebounds

UTRGV held a 21-10 first quarter lead after shooting 42.1 percent from the field including 4 of 9 from three-point range while the Cowgirls shot 16.7 percent from the field in 3 of 18 attempts.
UTRGV outscored McNeese 13-17 in the second quarter including going on an 11-2 run in the final 8:19 left in the first half to take a 34-17 halftime lead. 

The two Cowgirl points during that scoring drought came off free throws by Ty Williams with one second left in the half.  The other points of the quarter came from Kyla Davis' three-pointer and a put back layup by Wilnie Joseph early in the quarter.

McNeese ended the first half making 5 of 34 attempts from the field and were 5 of 6 from the free throw line but only had six turnovers and were only outrebounded 27-24 in the half.

UTRGV held a 50-26 lead after the third quarter after outscoring the Cowgirls 16-9 after shooting 20.0 percent from the field on 4 of 20 from the field.

McNeese did outscore the Vaqueros 18-17 in the fourth quarter, but the lead was too large to make up in the end.

McNeese will remain home to host Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, who defeated Nicholls 59-44 Thursday night at 1 p.m. Saturday afternoon.  Seniors Ty Williams, Mireia Yespes, Sydney McQuietor, Kiayra Ellis, Wilnie Joseph, and Kyla Davis will be honored approximately 30 minutes before game time.