HAMMOND, La. – Southeastern Louisiana's late rally came up short in an 80-72 loss to McNeese in Southland Conference women's basketball action Wednesday night in the University Center.
Southeastern (3-5, 2-3 Southland) dropped its third straight game and lost at home for the first time in 2020-21. McNeese (4-7, 4-0 Southland) continued its perfect start to Southland Conference play.
The Lady Lions trailed by as many as 19 early in the third quarter, but roared back to close the deficit to seven points. However, the visiting Cowgirls wouldn't allow SLU to complete its comeback.
Cierria Cunningham led Southeastern with 18 points, while
Breonca Ducksworth and
Morgan Carrier joined her in double figures with 14 and 12 points, respectively. Ducksworth and
Hailey Giaratano led SLU with three steals apiece, while Natalie Kelley returned to the lineup for the first time since Nov. 27 and paced the team with seven rebounds.
Kyla Hamilton led McNeese with a game-high 25 points, while sharing game-high rebounding honors with Whitney Johnson, as both finished with eight rebounds each. Le'Shenae Stubblefield (22 points), Lizzy Ratcliff (14 points) and Claralee Richard (12 points) joined Hamilton in double figures. Stubblefield and Hamilton also notched three steals apiece.
Southeastern was able to create plenty of open shots and a season-high in free throw attempts, but was unable to convert at a high efficiency. The Lady Lions shot 34.8 percent (23-for-66) from the floor and 59.0 percent (23-for-39) from the charity stripe. McNeese countered with an 8-for-14 showing from three-point range.
After a tightly-contested first quarter, McNeese took control of the game in the second quarter. The Cowgirls outscored SLU, 24-14, in the period to take a 46-32 advantage into halftime.
McNeese would grow its lead to as much as 19 in the third quarter. However, SLU used an 8-0 run late in the period to go into the final quarter within striking distance, trailing 62-53.
SLU just couldn't get over the final hump in the fourth quarter. Southeastern pulled as close to seven, but Hamilton got hot and helped McNeese extend its lead back up to 15. The Lady Lions were able to reduce the final margin to single digits in the waning minutes.
Up Next
Southeastern will continue its six-game home stand on Saturday, hosting Northwestern State at 1 p.m. The game will be televised on ESPN+ and can be heard on KSLU-FM, online at
www.LionSports.net/listenlive and via the Lions Gameday Experience and TuneIn Radio apps.
Giaratano will be Saturday's Spotlight Player of the Game. The first 150 fans will receive a trading card featuring the Ponchatoula, Louisiana native courtesy of PRIDE.
TICKETS
For ticket information, please contact the Southeastern Athletics Ticket Office at (985) 549-5466 or visit
www.LionSports.net/tickets. Southeastern is implementing mobile ticketing as the primary source for securing tickets for the 2020-21 season. All tickets will be available via e-mail or text message in a PDF format for fans to download on their phone or print at home. Tickets can also be downloaded to Apple Wallet.
SOCIAL MEDIA
For more information on Southeastern Women's Basketball, follow @LionUpWBB on Twitter, like /SoutheasternWBB on Facebook and subscribe to the SLUathletics YouTube channel.
CLEAR BAG POLICY
Southeastern Athletics has instituted a clear bag policy for all ticketed events, effective with the start of football season. For more information on the clear bag policy, visit
www.LionSports.net/clear.
