After completely remaking the Cowgirls roster, Lynn Kennedy has put the finishing touches on the women’s basketball schedule. 

Kennedy, in his first year at McNeese State, announced what he called a “tough and challenging” season Thursday.

“We wanted to improve overall the teams we will play,” said Kennedy. “We wanted a non-conference schedule that will get us ready for the Southland Conference.”

Included is a trip to the West Coast for a pair of games against the University of California-Berkley and Oregon on Dec. 11 and 13 respectively.

“We wanted to go to the West Coast to treat it like a conference road trip,” Kennedy said. “To play in those types of environments will be good for us down the road.

“We wanted to challenge our team against good competition in tough spots.”

The Cowgirls will also play at Mississippi State on Dec. 1. 

McNeese will open with an exhibition inside Burton Coliseum on Oct. 30 and start the season officially on the road at Arkansas-Pine Bluff on Nov. 9. 

Kennedy said it was not easy getting a schedule done after last year’s COVID issues.

“There was a lot of chaos after last year,” he said. “People weren’t really sure what they should try and do. And here there wasn’t really a schedule in place so we had to start over.”

The Cowgirls will play teams from the Southeastern Conference, PAC-12, Conference USA, Sun Belt, Western Athletic Conference. McNeese will host Southwest Assembly of God on Nov. 13 in its home opener along with non-conference home games against Champions College (Nov. 23) and WNIT participant last season in UL-Lafayette (Nov. 28).

Kennedy is hoping that the game against Louisiana Tech set for Dec. 22 will be the first back in The Legacy Center.

“We are hoping that by late December we will be back in the building,” Kennedy said. 

The on-campus home to the school’s basketball teams was damaged during hurricanes Laura and Delta.

“We are looking forward to getting back in there and playing in our home arena,” said Kennedy. 

Following the Christmas break, the Cowgirls will take part in the Southland Conference Pre-Southland Conference Tournament in Katy, Texas (Jan. 3-5) prior to kicking off the SLC regular season schedule against Houston Baptist on Jan. 15. The conference schedule will consist of teams playing home and home with the SLC Tournament scheduled for March 10-13 in Katy.

2021-22 McNeese Women’s Basketball Schedule

Oct. 30            Dillard (Exhibition)           

Nov. 9            at Arkansas-Pine Bluff           

Nov. 13            Southwestern Assemblies of God           

Nov. 15            at Arkansas State               

Nov. 21            at UT-Rio Grande Valley           

Nov. 23            Champions College           

Nov. 28             UL-Lafayette                       

Dec. 1            at Mississippi State           

Dec. 7            at Lamar               

Dec. 11            at California               

Dec. 13            at Oregon               

Dec. 18            at UL-Monroe               

Dec. 22            Louisiana Tech               

Jan. 3            Pre-SLC Tournament                   

Jan. 4            Pre-SLC Tournament               

Jan. 5            Pre-SLC Tournament               

Jan. 15            *Houston Baptist           

Jan. 20            *at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi           

Jan. 22            *at Incarnate Word           

Jan. 27            *Nicholls                           

Jan. 29            *New Orleans               

Feb. 3            *Southeastern La.           

Feb. 5            *Northwestern State           

Feb. 10            *at Southeastern La.           

Feb. 12            *at Northwestern State           

Feb. 17            *at Nicholls               

Feb. 19             *at New Orleans               

Feb. 24            *Texas A&M-Corpus Christi       

Feb. 26            *Incarnate Word           

Mar. 5            *at Houston Baptist           

Mar. 10-13        Southland Conference Tournament (Katy, TX.)

•- Southland Conference Game