By Jim Gazzolo

Special to the American Press

The McNeese State women’s basketball team will be looking to give its coach a get-well card when it hosts Nicholls State tonight.

Kacie Cryer, in her fifth year at the helm of the Cowgirls, will miss the first of two games tonight after testing positive for COVID-19. Assistant coach Amanda Clemons will serve as head coach for tonight’s game.

Cryer will also miss Saturday’s game at Lamar.

“I’m feeling good but have lost my sense of taste and smell,” Cryer said. “We are dealing with this on our club right now, but we are fighting through it.”

Most of McNeese’s key players will be back for the game against Nicholls, which tips off at 6:30 p.m. at Burton Coliseum.

“This is a big game for us,” Cryer said. “We are not going to make any excuses, we are just working to stay focused on playing hard and doing what we have been doing.”

That’s been good of late as McNeese has won all four of its Southland Conference games to improve to 4-7. McNeese is one of three undefeated teams in the league.

Stephen F. Austin leads the conference at 6-0 while Houston Baptist is 1-0. Nicholls (5-8) is 4-2 in the SLC, but 0-7 on the road.

The Cowgirls’ surprising turnaround is part of a strange season which has seen nothing normal. Games have been moved, postponed and players in and out of lineups due to the virus. It makes getting ready for a game anything but normal.

“You have to be ready to go no matter what,” Cryer said. “You have to go in and play with who you can when you can. It’s the same for everybody.”

Against Nicholls that means contending with sophomore Chelsea Cain, who at 6 feet is tough on the inside. Cain leads the Colonels in scoring (16.9 points per game) and rebounds (7.7).

“We have to do a good job containing her,” Cryer said of Cain. “Keeping her under control is going to be a key.

“They are a blue-collar team who will scrap on every play. They are going to be tough.”

Cryer credits the Cowgirls’ resurgence to better chemistry, giving a lot of props to senior Shaela Gardner.

“When it comes to leadership, Shaela has put this team on her back and helped keep us together,” Cryer said.

Kyla Hamilton (8.7 ppg) leads a balanced scoring attack.