If the first-place Islanders were looking ahead, they just got run over from behind.

McNeese State pulled off its biggest win in the Lynn Kennedy era Thursday night, toppling Southland Conference leader Texas A&M-Corpus Christi 76-65.

The Islanders, who saw their six-game winning streak snapped, will play Houston Baptist for first place on Saturday, but the Cowgirls have their own agenda.

After the victory, their third in a row, the Cowgirls are one win from capturing the all important first-round bye in the SLC Tournament. They can earn that with a victory Saturday over Incarnate Word.

“This means a lot,” said Kennedy, whose team played its first home game after a four-game road trip. “It means more to me that we played better. Tonight we played well.”

The Cowgirls (12-13, 7-5 SLC), who ended a four-game losing streak to the Islanders, never trailed, getting 23 points from freshman Kaili Chamberlin and 18 points and eight rebounds from junior forward Divine Tanks.

Unlike earlier in the season when the young Cowgirls faltered down the stretch, this time they stumbled but never fell.

“It is super important to be in the top four,” Tanks said. “I had a sense we were going to play well before the game.”

Even when the Islanders (17-8, 9-2) cut the lead to 70-65 on Alecia Westbrook’s steal and layup with 54.8 seconds left. Westbrook finished with 13 points.

McNeese responded by hitting three consecutive free throws and getting a layup from Cristina Gil to seal the win. Gil came off the bench to score 13 points.

“We stayed composed, passed it around and made sure we kept moving,” Chamberlin said.

Despite early turnovers at the start of the fourth quarter, the Cowgirls defense stayed strong. They held the Islanders to 0-for-13 from behind the 3-point arc.

“Our initial defense was really good tonight,” Kennedy said. “We still have room for improvement but we won by 11 so that is a good thing.”

Playing their best half of the season, the Cowgirls jumped to a 40-26 lead.

Shooting 52 percent from the floor and holding the Islanders to 33 percent, McNeese was able to control the game from the start.

Chamberlin had 13 points in the opening two quarters and Tanks added 10, eight coming in the first 6 minutes.

“We really came out hot and stayed hot,” Chamberlin said.

An 11-4 run to end the first quarter gave the Cowgirls a 24-12 lead heading into the second.

That grew to 16 on a pair of Zuzanna Kulinska free throws with 1:38 left in the half. A basket by the Islanders’ Nabaweeyah McGill just before the buzzer cut the margin to 14 at the break.

Makinna Serrata led the Islanders with 16 points.