Rust or rest, the Cowgirls are about to find out.

Having played just one game in the last 17 days, McNeese State’s women’s basketball team will restart its season Thursday in Natchitoches. 

The Cowgirls’ only game since Dec. 16 was a home loss to Southeastern to open Southland Conference play. They will look for their first league victory and to end a three-game losing skid against the Demons.

Tipoff is set for 6:30 p.m.

The Cowgirls will enter the game 5-7 overall, just one win shy of last season’s total. Northwestern State is 4-7, 1-1. 

McNeese will stay on the road for a Saturday noon affair at East Texas A&M (3-8, 0-2). Both games can be seen on ESPN+.

“We would really like to use these two games and get some momentum going heading deeper into our conference schedule,” said McNeese head coach Lynn Kennedy. “We have been going through some tough things this month and need to play together on the court to get some chemistry going.”

McNeese will have three players out for the near future. Lyla Kahrimanvic, Julia Puente and Alva Mofalk will all continue to miss games with injuries.

The Cowgirls have also been suffering from a flu bug that has limited players’ time on the practice court recently.

“We are going to have a little bit of rust that we will have to work through fast,” said Kennedy. “I think the first five minutes of the game we need to make sure we have our energy and keep it going.”

The Demons are coming off a 57-51 win over Houston Christian Sunday. Sharna Ayres scored 20 points and Vernell Alamah added 19 to lead NWS.

With Paris Guillory healthy, McNeese has gotten a big offensive boost. She leads the team in scoring at 13.3 points per game after missing the first nine recovering from knee surgery.

“I have never felt better,” Guillory said after making her first start against Southeastern. “I’m really looking forward to getting more time on the floor and the rest of the season.”

The Demons will try to play with a slower tempo, having had trouble scoring during the early season. 

“We would like to set a quicker pace but we have to make sure we keep our energy going the entire game,” said Kennedy. “We really need to do that coming out of the halftime. We have had slow starts to the third quarter we have to avoid.”

The game is McNeese’s first of three straight on the road. After Saturday, the Cowgirls will be at Houston Christian themselves a week from Thursday.

“Tough environments on the road,” said Kennedy. “We will have to bring our own energy.”