Opponent: Nicholls (24-4, 18-1SLC)
Date: Thursday, Jan. 26
Time: 6:30 p.m.
Location: Thibodaux (Stopher Gym)
Watch: ESPN+



LAKE CHARLES—Southland Conference regular season champ McNeese women's basketball (24-4, 18-1 SLC) will end the regular season playing three games in five days beginning with a Thursday night game at Nicholls (12-14, 8-11 SLC).  Tipoff is set for 6:30 p.m. with the game streaming on ESPN+.

McNeese capture the outright regular season title last Saturday with its 72-55 home win over Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, the programs third regular season title.

The Cowgirls will carry a 17-game winning streak into the game, currently the fifth longest women's basketball winning streak in the nation.

McNeese will also be looking for its second win over Nicholls this season after defeating the Colonels 62-51 in Lake Charles on Jan. 8.

Nicholls is tied for seventh place in the league standings and will look to snap a three-game losing streak after falling 77-57 to Stephen F. Austin last Saturday.  

The Cowgirls will end their road trip with a 2 p.m. game at UNO on Saturday before hosting Stephen F. Austin on Monday, March 2 in the regular season finale.
 
McNEESE NOTES
• Clinched the regular season title and the No. 1 seed in the 2026 US Air Force Southland Conference Basketball Championship last Saturday with a 72-55 home win over Texas A&M-Corpus Christi
• Its the third regular season Southland title (1986, 2011, 2026) for McNeese
• Have won a school record 18 SLC games
• Have won 20 of last 22 games
• It's the first 20-win season since 2016
• Are on a program best 17 game winning streak, currently the seventh longest winning streak in the NCAA this season.
• Head coach Ayla Guzzardo is the first McNeese head coach to win 22 games in her first season as head coach
• Guzzardo currently has an overall differential record of improvement of 14.5 for first year head coaches, tying for the best turnaround in the nation for a first-year head coach.
• Kim Mulkey holds the Louisiana record of 12.5 (2021-22) in her first season at LSU.
• The record for largest turnaround in wins from one season to another is 19 games by Liberty (1995-96), Guzzardo is at 16 entering Thursday's game against Nicholls
• The only SLC loss the Cowgirls suffered this season was a 65-58 home loss against Northwestern State on Dec. 15, the second SLC game of the season.
• Broke into the College Insider Mid Major Poll for the first time this season on Feb. 17, coming in at No. 25
• Head coach Ayla Guzzardo picked her 100th career Southland Conference win on Feb. 5, 2026, with an 83-35 home win over Houston Christian.
• McNeese leads the nation in turnover margin and ranks second in scoring defense.
• Enter the game leading the SLC in eight statistical categories (Assists/Turnover Ratio, scoring defense (2nd in the nation), scoring margin, steals per game (7th in the nation), turnover margin (lead the nation), turnovers forced per game (8th in the nation), turnovers per game (4th in the nation), and winning percent (12th in the nation).
• Enter the game ranked in the Top 25 in eight NCAA statistical categories - 1st in turnover margin (13.50), 2nd in scoring defense (51.9), 4th in turnovers per game (11.0), 6th in steals per game (15.1), 7th in turnovers forced per game (24.46), 12th in wining percent (85.7), and 24th in scoring margin (16.1)
• The Cowgirls' NET ranking of 78 (Dec. 14, 2025), was the highest in program history.
• Freshman Dakota Howard continues to lead the team in scoring with 12.7 ppg, rebounds (6.1), and steals with 77. She leads the SLC with 2.9 spg.  She is averaging 12.1 ppg. in conference games which ranks her ninth.
• Arianna Patton leads the team and ranks third in the SLC with 67 three-pointers.  She is second on the team in scoring (11.0 ppg.)
• Jalencia Pierre has a team high 98 assists (3.6 apg.) and is second on the team with 55 steals.  She leads the SLC and ranks 27th in the nation in assist/turnover ratio (2.18).   Pierre scored 1,000 career point against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi on Feb. 21, 2026.
 
 
UPCOMING GAMES
Feb. 26 at Nicholls*
Feb. 28 at UNO*
Mar. 2 Stephen F. Austin*
Mar. 9-12 SLC Tournament (Lake Charles)
 
Home Games in BOLD