LAKE CHARLES—McNeese women's basketball scored the first 19 points of the game on its way to a 77-55 Southland Conference win over Southeastern here Saturday to improve to 12-4 overall and 6-1 in the SLC.  Southeastern falls to 2-12 overall and 1-6 in the SLC.
 
Freshman Dakota Howard picked up her first career double double by leading all scorers with a career high 23 points to go along with 10 rebounds. Howard picked up six of her 10 rebounds on offense.
 
Arianna Patton and Kaili Chamberlin also scored in double figures.  Patton ended the game with 15 points on five three-pointers which tied her career high.
 
Chamberlin pitched in with 10 points, six coming from two 3-pointers.
 
McNeese took the early lead and never looked back and led 46-24 at the half.
 
The Cowgirls scored 31 points off 19 Southeastern turnovers.
 
McNeese will hit the road for its next three games beginning with a 7 p.m. game at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi next Thursday, Jan. 15
 
^1st QUARTER
• McNeese scored the first 19 points of the game in the first five minutes before Southeastern scored their first points of the game with 4:42 left in the quarter
McNeese 26, Southeastern 13
 
2^nd QUARTER
• Southeastern started the quarter on a 7-3 run to cut the lead to single digits (29-20)
• McNeese scored the next eight points to up the lead to 17 (37-20)  
• Patton hit back-to-back three-pointers to give McNeese its largest lead of the game- 20 points (44-24)
• Chamberlin hit a jumper as time expired for a 22-point Cowgirl halftime lead
• McNeese shot 53% from the field (17 for 32) including 45 percent from three-point range, making nine treys
• Caused Southeastern to turn the ball over 10 times and scored 21 points off those turnovers
• Cowgirls were credited with six steals in the half
HALFTIME: McNeese 46, Southeastern 24
 
 3^rd QUARTER
• McNeese started the half like they started the game by scoring the first six points of the half to lead by 28
Southeastern scored six straight points from the free throw line to cut the lead to 19 pts. (54-35)  
McNeese 58, Southeastern 41
 
4^th QUARTER
• Southeastern cut the lead to 14 points  (64-50) midway through the quarter
• McNeese ended the game outscoring the Lady Lion 13-5 the rest of the way
FINAL: McNeese 77, Southeastern 55
 
McNEESE NOTES
• McNeese improved to 12-4 overall and 6-1 in the SLC
• The Cowgirls extended its winning streak to four games and have won nine of its last 11 games
• Howard recorded her first career double double (23 pts., 10 reb.)
• The 23 points by Howard is a career high, she scored 17 in the second half
• Six of her 10 rebounds came on offense
• Patton ended the game with 15 points, all coming in the first half
• Patton connected on five three-pointers, tying her career high
• Kaili Chamberlin scored 10 points with six coming from three-point range
• Tyreona Sibley tied her career high with nine rebounds
• McNeese scored 31 points off 19 Southeastern turnovers
• McNeese scored 32 points in the paint
• McNeese held its largest lead of 28 points with 7:13 left in the third quarter
 
 UPCOMING GAMES
Jan. 15 at Texas A&M-CC* (7 p.m.)
Jan. 17 at UTRGV* (2 p.m.)
Jan. 22 at Southeastern* (6 p.m.)
Jan. 24 New Orleans* (1 p.m.)
Jan. 29 at SFA* (6 p.m.)
Jan. 31 at Lamar* (3 p.m.)
 
 
SLC Game; Home game in BOLD