If McNeese State can finish its Southland Conference season the same way it started, it will be a good year.

The Cowgirls rocketed to a quick start against league favorite Stephen F. Austin in Saturday’s conference opener, then fended off a Ladyjacks rally for a 73-67 win.

“This is a wonderful way to start off the conference season against a really tough Stephen F. Austin team,” said McNeese coach Brooks Donald Williams. “We have a big rivalry the past four or five years. We’ve had this date marked. Not only the beginning of conference season, but it made it bigger that it was Stephen F. Austin.”

SFA (7-5, 0-1 Southland) had its way with McNeese (7-5, 1-0) in both meetings last season, cruising to a 20-point win in Nacogdoches, Texas, before eliminating the Cowgirls from the conference tournament in an 80-54 blowout.

Needless to say, it’s a new year.

“We wanted to take down No. 1,” said junior guard Allison Baggett, who had 22 points. “We came out with a lot of fire. We did a good job coming out and attacking them.”

SFA was frustrated early by McNeese’s full-court press, and the Cowgirls led by as many as 14 late in the first half before taking a 34-25 lead into the locker room.

“Our girls love to press,” Donald Williams said. “It gets them going. It’s something we feel Stephen F. Austin struggles with. We felt it would set the tone, and it did.”

The margin stayed in double figures for much of the second half, but led by all-conference center Porsha Roberts, SFA was not going away.

Roberts had a game-high 26 points and 12 rebounds as SFA hacked away at the lead until a Tierany Henderson 3 trimmed McNeese’s lead to 59-58 with 4:49 left.

Cowgirls guard Amber Donnes, typically on the floor because of her defensive skills, had the answer, draining back-to-back 3s to make things comfortable again.

“It felt really good,” Donnes said. “I like that my teammates have a lot of confidence in me. That makes me feel better when I shoot it.”

SFA pulled back within a basket with 34 seconds left, but Baggett hit a jumper at the other end with 15 seconds to go to make it a two-possession game.

Jayln Johnson, who had a team-high 25 points for McNeese, effectively ended the game by drawing a charge on SFA’s final possession.

Johnson was 14-for-14 from the free-throw line. McNeese was 22 of 25 as a team, while SFA hit nine of its 22 attempts at the line.

“It’s a huge difference,” Donald Williams said. “Our girls have put the time in the gym to make the difference in their free-throw shooting. They’ve been in the gym when required to and in the gym when they’re not required to. They’ve seen the results the past couple games.”

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NOTE: Baggett became the 14th player in program history with more than 1,000 career points.

(Rick Hickman/American Press)

Rick Hickman