Special to the American Press

SAN ANTONIO — The McNeese State women’s basketball team extended its win streak to a season-best four games with a 69-34 Southland Conference victory over host Incarnate Word Thursday night.

The Cowgirls (8-11, 5-3 SLC), who lost their first eight road games of the season, have strung together back-to-back road wins.

It’s their first four-game win streak since last season (Feb. 17-Feb. 24) when three of the four victories came on the road.

McNeese limited UIW, which shot 18.9 percent from the field, to single digits in the second and fourth quarters.

“This was a team win tonight,” said Cowgirls head coach Lynn Kennedy. “Our defense was locked in right from the start. We contested every shot and really took them away from their their game. We had great flow on offense and we were able to create matchups that worked in our favor.”

It was the third consecutive loss for the Cardinals (7-11, 2-6) and their third home loss in 10 games.

Paris Mullins came off the bench to lead the Cowgirls, who led all but 36 seconds of the game, with the first double-double of her career, scoring a game-high 11 points and pulling down a game-high 12 rebounds.

Christina Gil also came off the bench to 10 points, followed by Desirae Hansen with nine points — all on 3-pointers — and a team-best five assists.

Three UIW players — Destiny Terrell, Myra Bell and Jorja Elliott — finished with seven points each. UIW’s leading scorer, Nina DeLeon, was limited to two points, nine below her average.

The Cowgirls, who led 40-16 at the half, enjoyed their best shooting game of the season, hitting 58.1 from the field and outrebounding the Cardinals 40-25.

McNeese has won three of the last four meetings.

UIW…………..70

Cowboys……65

Jonathan Cisse scored a game-high 24 points and Incarnate Word sent McNeese State to its fifth consecutive loss.

It was the third straight win for UIW (9-12, 3-5), which won its third consecutive game.

The Cowboys (5-16, 2-6) got a team-high 18 points from Christian Shumate, followed by Jonathan Massie with 16 and Donovan Oday chipped in 10. Shumate also pulled down seven rebounds, one behind Harwin Francois.

Trey Miller and Davante Dennis contributed 14 points each for the Cardinals. Miller also dished out a game-high six assists. Stephon Payne had a game-high 11 rebounds.

McNeese led 32-31 at half, but Cardinals outscored the Cowboys 39-33 in the second half with Cisse, a junior who played at St. Thomas More in Lafayette, sealing the victory with a pair of free throws with 4 seconds remaining.

UIW has won four of the last five meetings.

McNeese will continue its two-game Texas swing Saturday at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.