McNeese Women’s Basketball beats New Orleans behind fourth quarter run

Lake Charles, LA (KPLC) - The McNeese Women’s Basketball team entered Wednesday night’s regular-season finale against New Orleans with quite a bit on the line, they had a spot in the Southland Conference Tournament already, but their seed in that tournament was yet to be decided. McNeese could be as high as the sixth seed with a win, and some help, or as low as the eighth seed, which is the lowest seed in the tournament.

Wednesday night’s opponent; New Orleans, beat the Cowgirls less than three weeks prior 65-59 in New Orleans, but Wednesday night’s meeting was a bit different.

The Cowgirls outscored New Orleans in all four quarters on Wednesday night as they took a 30-23 lead heading into the second half, and in the fourth quarter, the Cowgirls really separated themselves. After the Privateers cut McNeese’s lead to just two making it a 52-50 game with 5:20 left, the Cowgirls opened up the floodgates as they went on a 16-0 run, and ended up cruising to a 68-56 win.

On the same night when the Cowgirls honored their six seniors: Le’Shenae Stubblefield, Stephanie Guihon, Alicja Falkowska, Zuzanna Kulinska, Divine Tanks, and Desirae Hansen, the Cowgirls wrapped up their regular season with a big win, and it was one where they relied upon their seniors as they combined for 51 of their 68 points en route to their revenge win over New Orleans on Wednesday.

“I love how our seniors stepped up, I went with the four seniors who are still playing, Zuzanna is still hurt, and so at that moment as a coach to have your seniors step up and actually kind of blow them out at the end, it was really impressive, and not many coaches are able to do that. I thanked our whole team that allowed me to play them in that moment, I don’t know what the scenario is but we may play them again on Monday too, so it was a good win for us” said head coach Lynn Kennedy following the win.

McNeese Top Performers:

• Divine Tanks: 18 points, 8 rebounds, 1 assist
• Le’Shenae Stubblefield: 11 points, 7 rebounds, 4 steals, 1 block

New Orleans Top Performers:

• Tara Green: 19 points, 5 rebounds, 2 steals
• DeArica Pryor: 11 points, 6 steals, 5 rebounds, 3 assists

With the win, the Cowgirls are officially in the Southland Conference Tournament which begins on Monday, where they will once again play New Orleans at 1:30 on Monday afternoon.

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