LAKE CHARLES—McNeese women's basketball, the 2026 regular season Southland Conference Champs, capped off the regular season with a commanding 87-60 win over Stephen F. Austin Monday night, setting a school record for wins in a season with 27, finishing the regular season 27-4 overall and a Southland Conference record for wins with 21, finishing 12-1 in the SLC.
 
McNeese will enter next weeks, Air Force Reserve Southland Conference Championship as the No. 1 seed and will play their first game in the semifinals at 10:30 a.m., Wednesday, March 11.  An opponent will be determined later.
 
Senior Arianna Patton and the rest of the Cowgirls were on a mission tonight and nothing was going to spoil their postgame activities.  The Cowgirls celebrated after the game by being presented the regular season championship trophy and cut down the net. 
 
Patton made sure SFA wasn't going to spoil the postgame festivities, ending the game with a career high 30 points on the way to setting a school record for three-pointers made in a game with 10.  She ended the game 10 for 17 from the field including 10 of 12 from behind the arc.  Patton scored 21 second half points making all seven three-point attempts.
 
Dakota Howard ended the game with a career high 24 points and picked up her fourth career double double by leading all players with 11 rebounds. Howard was 8 of 11 from the field and made good on 8 of her 10 free throws.  Seven of her 11 rebounds came on the defensive end.  Lexi Alexander, Jalencia Pierre, and Tyreona Sibley all ended the game with 10 points apiece.
 
SFA held the lead (5-4) for 19 seconds in the first quarter, but Alexander's layup with 6:49 left in the first quarter started 14-3 scoring run to give McNeese an 18-8 first quarter lead and the Cowgirls never looked back.  McNeese continued to build on its lead in the second quarter to lead 38-19 at the half.
 
McNeese held as much as a 33-point lead with 4:49 left in the game on an Alexander fastbreak layup.  The Cowgirls tied their season high with 26 assists.  Pierre led all players with seven assists on the night.
 
McNEESE NOTES
• Won its school record 27th game (27-4)
• Won a school record 21 SLC games and became the first school to win 20 SLC games in conference history with its win at UNO on Feb. 28.
• Have won 23 of last 25 games
• It's the first 20-win season since 2016
• Extended its program best winning streak to 20 games, currently the fourth current longest
winning streak in the NCAA this season.
• End the regular season 12-1 at home, one shy of tying the school record for most home wins
• McNeese tied its season high with 26 assists
• Five players scored in double figures (Patton- 30), Howard (24), Alexander, Pierre, and Sibley all scored 10 points
• Patton's 30 points are a career high
• Patton's 10 three-pointers is an individual school record, breaking the old record of nine three-pointers made by Shante' Perry against Louisiana Tech during the 2008-09 season.
• Patton ended the game 10 for 17 from the field and 10 of 12 from three-point range.  She was 7 of 7 from behind the arc in the second half.
• Dakota Howard scored a season high 24 points on 8 of 11 from the field and 8 of 10 free throws
• Howard recorded her fourth career double double with 11 rebounds