COMMERCE, Texas – McNeese extended its school-record winning streak to 15-consecutive games as the Cowgirls rallied from a double-digit first half lead with a dominant second half for a 71-64 Southland Conference victory over East Texas A&M here Saturday afternoon.
 
The win lifted McNeese to 22-4 on the season and 16-1 in league play, and with UTRGV falling to Stephen F. Austin, the Cowgirls extend their lead in the conference standings by three games. McNeese will host UTRGV on Thursday with a chance to clinch at least a share of the conference title.
 
ETAM fell to 12-11 overall and 8-8 in league play while seeing its five-game winning streak come to an end.
 
Dakota Howard led the way for the Cowgirls in the first half, scoring 13 of her 16 points in the first two periods while helping keep the Cowgirls within striking distance.
 
The second half, the trio of Jalencia Pierre, Arianna Patton, and Tyreona Sibley took over with the three each scoring double-digits in the final 20 minutes while combining for 41 of the Cowgirls 49 second half points.
 
Pierre's 17 points led four Cowgirls in double-figures. Sibley and Howard added 16 each while Patton scored 14. Howard added 12 rebounds for her third double-double of the season.
 
The Cowgirls took their first lead of the game at the 4:26 mark of the third quarter when Pierre made a layup plus free throw to put McNeese on top 37-35.
 
Patton knocked down McNeese's first three-pointer of the game after six straight misses to start the game, making it a 45-39 lead with 1:50 left in the third as the Cowgirls went on to knock down three straight long balls to extend the lead to 49-43 at the end of the third quarter.
 
McNeese outscored the Lions 27-12 in the period and held the home team to just 1 of 8 shooting for the period as 10 of their points came from the free throw line.
 
The Cowgirls trailed 31-22 at the half and fell behind by as many as 12 points four different times in the first 20 minutes due to the lack of making shots while ETAM was great from behind the three-point line.
 
McNeese made just 28 percent in the first half, shooting 8 of 29 that included 0 for 5 from three-point range. The Lions connected on 11 of 23 and were 4 of 7 from behind the arc to outscore the Cowgirls 12-0 from long range.
 
The Cowgirls shot 42 percent for the game (25-59) and made 3 of 11 from behind the arc but connected on 17 of 30 for 57 percent in the second half, 3 of 6 from long range. ETAM made 48 percent (20-42) and hit 7 of 13 from three-point range for 54 percent.