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KATY, Texas – Trailing Lamar University 42-23 with 4:35 left in the first half, McNeese State coach Brooks Donald Williams showed little concern. Having reached at least the semifinals of the Southland Conference Women’s Basketball Tournament four times in the last five years and a roster filled with experience, the Cowgirls knew one good run was all they’d need to get back into the contest.
McNeese did so, pulling off one of the more devastating reversals of fortune in tourney history, as the fourth-seed Cowgirls eliminated the eighth-seed Cardinals 88-78 at Merrell Center on Friday afternoon, putting them back into the semifinals against top seed Central Arkansas on Saturday at 1 p.m., on ESPN3.
“We’ve been in this situation several times this year,” McNeese State coach Brooks Donald-Williams said. “I don’t know if that’s a good thing or a bad thing, but today it was a good thing. I think they definitely handled that with a lot of poise. We certainly don’t want to be in that position, but they handled it well.”
The Cowgirls (20-11) used the final minutes of the first half as the foundation of their comeback, which has been a theme for McNeese State’s season. Jayln Johnson hit all three of her treys as part of a 16-0 run that pushed the Cowgirls back into the game, trailing only 44-40 at intermission. While Lamar was able to briefly regain its composure early in the third quarter, the Cardinals’ inability to control the glass, which had been evident in the first half, became the anchor which slowly started to drag away their postseason hopes. The Cardinals (12-19) were outrebounded by a 51-36 margin, yet it was McNeese State’s work on the offensive end that truly hurt them, as Frederica Haywood pulled down 10 of her career-best 23 rebounds on that side of the court, which helped the Cowgirls tally 26 points on second chance opportunities.
“It was the factor. I don’t think there’s any question about that,” Donald-Williams said. “Our posts did a fantastic job of rebounding the basketball on both ends and gave us a lot of second opportunities. They kept us in the game when we weren’t guarding them as well.”
Amber Donnes’ 3-pointer with 5:18 left in the third quarter gave McNeese State a 52-50 lead it would not relinquish. Donnes’ basket started off a 20-6 run which was capped off by Victoria Rachal’s 3-pointer with 36 seconds remaining in the quarter to give the Cowgirls a solid 69-56 margin. Allison Baggett, who had a career-high 30 points, closed out the quarter with a jumper to give McNeese State a 71-58 cushion.
Baggett’s shooting was the one constant while the Cowgirls struggled for much of the first half. The second-team all-conference selection also added five rebounds and two assists to help McNeese State push one step closer to its first tournament title since 2012.
“We didn’t answer back,” Lamar coach Robin Harmony said. “When we came down the court, we started slopping the ball up, and it was a shooter and it was Laka (Blache) in there trying to rebound. Everyone else was just watching.”
Johnson, who had 23 points, tossed one of her eight assists to Rachal, who scored to give the Cowgirls their biggest lead of the day at 83-64 with 6:20 left in the contest. The Cardinals tried to inch closer, yet despite 35 points from Addesha Collins, the game was all but decided.
McNeese State’s defense was able to limit Freshman of the Year Kiara Desamours to just six points on 1 of 5 shooting while forcing her into five turnovers. Desamours, who had been battling an illness all week, tried gamely to help Lamar pull off the upset, yet was unable to display the caliber of play that saw her average 10.8 points and 6.9 rebounds per game.
McNeese State lost both regular season games to Central Arkansas, falling 70-56 at home on February 17 before being dealt a 76-52 setback in the regular-season finale on March 5.
POSTGAME QUOTES:
McNeese State Head Coach Brooks Donald Williams
On today’s game…
“We struggled with their pressure, which we had the first two times we played them. It’s tough to play a team three times, [especially] a team like Lamar, which causes such chaos. Hats off to them and hats off to our team for coming back and changing some things defensively to guard them better and flipping the switch in the second half.”
On coming back from 19 down…
“Unfortunately, we’ve been in that situation before, and I don’t know if that’s a good thing or a bad thing. Today, I guess it was a good thing because the team has confidence in knowing that whatever we get down, we can come back and claw our way through. I think they handled that with a lot of poise. They continued to fight and take on play at a time.
McNeese State Senior Guard Allison Baggett
On her hot start…
“We were all feeling it and we knew we needed to lock down on defense. Our offense was going for it so we just had to fix our defense. We tried to push in transition.”
McNeese State Senior Guard Jayln Johnson
On the comeback…
“Mostly, our defense brought the energy, so once we started getting stops we started scoring and were able to get out in transition.”
Lamar Head Coach Robin Harmony
On McNeese State’s run…
“They just hit a three, like it happened to us yesterday. It picks up the whole momentum of the team. They hit one and they start to get hot and they hit four on us in that time. It is a momentum changer, and to their credit they drilled us.”
Lamar Sophomore Forward Laka Blache
On Lamar’s defensive struggles…
“I don’t feel like tiredness was much of a factor. It was more frustration that they were making shots.”
Lamar Senior Guard Addesha Collins
On having the season end…
“We, as a team, didn’t want to lose. We just wanted to keep going and keep pushing. It was a real heartbreaker knowing we could have done better like we were supposed to being ranked the three seed in the preseason.”