Warren Arceneaux

By Warren Arceneaux

warceneaux@americanpress.com

The McNeese State Cowgirls remained perfect in Southland Conference play with a dominant 67-47 win over Northwestern State.

The Cowgirls (2-7, 2-0) built a 15-5 run and maintained the lead the rest of the way.

Divine Tanks led the offense with a career-high 23 points, including 14 in the first half. The Demons (0-7, 0-2) shot 27 percent in the first half, shooting 7 of 26 and committed 13 turnovers.

McNeese scored 15 points off those turnovers and outscored Northwestern State 18-12 in the pain behind strong play from Tanks, who made 7 of 9 field goal attempts in the half.

Claralee Richard of Sulphur led the defensive effort with three blocked shots and a steal in the first half. She finished with eight points, seven rebounds, a career-high four of McNeese’s six blocked shots, and three steals.

Mychala Linzy added 10 points for McNeese, which won consecutive games for the first time since the 2018-19 season when it beat Southeastern Louisiana and Houston Baptist.

Westlake’s Kyla Hamilton and Lizzy Ratcliff had three steals each as the Cowgirls finished with 11. They scored 29 points off 21 turnovers.

“It is a tremendous win to go to 2-0 in our league, which is tough to do in our league,” said head coach Kacie Cryer, whose Cowgirls are off to their first 2-0 SLC start since the 2017-18 season. “Our defensive effort really opened up the game for us. Our goal was to hold them under 50, and we did that.

“We are competing really well and playing with a little swag and some toughness to us. They are playing with confidence and it is good to see.”

Tanks, a junior from Barbe High, completed the double-double with a season-high 11 rebounds.

“She really brought it on both ends,” Cryer said. “Her help-side defense was tremendous.

“It was another total team effort. We’re very balanced in our scoring. Kyla did a good job today as well as Shaela (Gardner) and Mychala. We don’t know who is going to lead us in scoring every night, but we know we need a few that are going to be there and doing their jobs. If the do their jobs we are going to continue to see the outcome go our way.”

Erin Harris led Northwestern State with 13 points. Julia Sion added 11 points and eight rebounds for the Demons, who have lost 12 consecutive games dating to last season.McNeese State junior forward Divine Tanks from Barbe High School makes a post move against a Northwestern State double team Saturday at Burton Coliseum. Tanks recorded a double-double of 23 points, a career high, and a season-high 11 rebounds.

Kirk Meche / Special to the American Press