At the end of Wednesday night’s roller-coaster ride, McNeese State was left feeling pretty queasy.

The Cowgirls went from trailing by 15 in the first half to leading by 10 in the second half to ultimately losing by 16 in a 75-59 loss to Abilene Christian, which entered the game winless in conference play.

“It’s extremely disappointing,” said McNeese coach Brooks Donald Williams. “We did not come out of the blocks very good. We did not have the energy and fire that we felt like we needed defensively.”

The Wildcats (8-6, 1-3 Southland) were coming off a 63-39 loss to Nicholls State on Sunday.

“Even though they didn’t start conference like we thought they would, we knew they’d have the potential to (be very good),” Donald Williams said.

McNeese (8-7, 2-2) was lackluster from the opening tip, forcing Donald Williams to make the drastic move of yanking all five players off the floor with the Cowgirls down 30-15.

“We knew why we were getting pulled,” said starter Allison Baggett. “We were dead on the floor and didn’t have any fire. The second group really brought it, and it was exciting to watch.”

The Cowgirls reserves made an immediate impact, triggering a 12-2 run before a starter was put back onto the court.

“Obviously you’re watching on the bench and there is no energy, so you’re getting antsy. Something has to change,” said guard Alaina Verdin, who led the charge off the bench with six points and two steals.

“Coming out, you’ve just got to get those other ones who subbed in fired up. We’ve got to get going.”

The previously moribund Cowgirls managed to take a three-point lead into the locker room and went up by as many as 10 early in the second half.

Then, just as swiftly as they took control of the game, they lost it.

ACU closed the game on a 36-10 run over the course of the final 17 minutes.

The leading thorn in McNeese’s side was reserve center Sydney Shelstead, who battered the back end of the full-court press for a game-high 19 points and 14 rebounds. Shelstead had 13 points and 11 boards during ACU’s game-ending run.

“Our back rotation in the press was extremely poor,” Donald Williams said. “Our back man was not rotating properly. We just weren’t in the right position. That’s something we’ve done well at times, but not today. Which is why we kept getting out of it.”

Whether it was due to dead legs or otherwise, McNeese couldn’t buy a shot in the second half. The Cowgirls were 7 of 30 (23.3 percent) from the field and 1 of 14 (7.1 percent) from 3-point range.

“It’s the third game in a row we’ve had to fight back like that,” Donald Williams said. “I don’t know if I’m concerned as much about missing the three-balls as much as that we were one-and-done so many times. We did not rebound as well as I thought we should have after the misses.”

ACU won the rebounding battle 42-36.

Baggett was the lone Cowgirl in double figures with 17 points.

“It’s just frustrating (we didn’t finish) because that second group came in so well and brought in a lot of energy for us,” Baggett said.

(Rick Hickman/American Press)

Rick Hickman