For the third time in four games, McNeese State’s women’s basketball team will take on a national power.

This time the Cowgirls won’t have to travel as far, but the competition will be every bit as tough, if not more.

McNeese heads two hours to the east to take on defending national champ LSU inside the Pete Maravich Center with tip set for 7 p.m.

The Tigers, preseason No. 1, are 9-1 and currently ranked seventh in the country. McNeese enters 3-6.

“There are no weaknesses,” McNeese head coach Lynn Kennedy said of LSU. “They are the champions for a reason and I think they got better this year.”

The Tigers hold a 17-4 record over McNeese, including winning the last seven meetings. LSU won the last game during the 2018-2019 season, 86-36.

The Cowgirls last beat LSU in 1982, 89-88 in Lake Charles.

This is the third time in the last four games McNeese has faced a Top 25 team on the road. They lost at Baylor (Nov. 24) and Kansas State just last week.

“We want to play the best and compete against the best,” said Kennedy. “Learning how to compete has helped us. We have taken some bruises.”

There might be nobody better in the country than LSU once it gets rolling. After losing their season opener, the Tigers have won nine straight.

LSU is led by DePaul transfer Aneesah Morrow, who is averaging 19.1 points a game. Angel Reese is just rounding back into form after an absence from the team. This will be her third game back.

Reese finished Sunday’s win over Louisiana-Lafayette with 20 points and nine assists.

So the Tigers are getting better even while announcing that guard Kateri Poole is no longer with the team. Head coach Kim Mulkey made that official Sunday after Poole missed her fifth straight game.

McNeese has two players averaging in double figures but one, guard Christina Gil, will miss her third straight game with an ankle injury. That leaves only transfer Emilia Tenbrock (12.3) as a double-digit scorer for tonight’s game.

Kennedy hopes to have Gil back as early as Thursday when McNeese starts a three-game homestand against Centenary.

The Cowgirls have scored 100 or more points in two of their last four games but have given up the same in the other two.

“We want to narrow the game and worry about us and what we do,” said Kennedy. “We want to not give up big runs and hit our shots.”

The Cowgirls hope to make enough shots against LSU to keep things interesting, at least for a little bit.