NACOGDOCHES, Texas—Stephen F. Austin outscored McNeese 43-27 in the second half on its way to an 80-57 Southland Conference women's basketball win Thursday night.
SFA improves to 25-5 overall and 15-4 in the SLC with the win.
With the loss, McNeese falls to 10-19 overall and 5-13 in the SLC. The loss also drops McNeese into ninth place in the league standings by virtue of Texas A&M-Corpus Christi's 90-76 win over New Orleans tonight, with two regular season games remaining.
McNeese will travel to Lamar on Saturday for a 3 p.m. game before closing out the regular season next Tuesday, March 4 in a 1 p.m. home game against New Orleans.
Azjah Reeves was the only Cowgirl to score in double figures, ending the game with 13 points, two shy of tying her season high. Reeves was 6 of 13 from the field and was one of four Cowgirls to grab five rebounds.
Another cold shooting night for the Cowgirls as they shot 31.5 percent from the field including 34.8 from three-point range on 8 of 23. McNeese was 3 of 9 (33.3 percent) from the free throw line.
SFA shot 43.5 percent from the field for the game and 65.5 percent from the free throw line (19-29). The Ladyjacks also outrebounded the Cowgirls 55-37 and placed four players in double figures. Key Roseby led all players with 18 points.
SFA held a 12-6 lead less than four minutes into the game, but the Cowgirls went on a 12-3 run to take an 18-15 lead and held a 20-19 lead after the first quarter.
SFA scored the first seven points in the first three minutes of the second quarter to take a 26-20 lead and never trailed again. SFA outscored McNeese 18-10 in the quarter to lead 37-30 at the half.
McNeese shot 29.7 percent from the field (11-37) and SFA shot 35.5 percent (11-31) from the field in the first half. Five of the Cowgirls field goals were from three-point range while SFA made four threes in the half. SFA also got 11 points from the free throw line in 16 attempts. McNeese was 3 of 5 from the free throw line.
McNeese's offense struggles continued in the third quarter and the Ladyjacks' offense improved as they outscored the Cowgirls 17-7 to take a 54-37 lead then outscored McNeese 26-20 in the fourth quarter.
