After a strong opening quarter, the Cowgirls lost their shooting touch. 

Then they lost their patience on offense before finally losing their game.

Utah Tech, behind Aaliyah Ibarra’s 36 points off the bench, rallied from an early deficit to knock off McNeese State 79-69 Saturday afternoon inside the Legacy Center.

Shooting 30 free throws to McNeese’s eight, the Trailblazers improved to 3-3 while the Cowgirls fell to the same record.

“We only had one good quarter and you have to have four,” said McNeese head coach Lynn Kennedy.

The Cowgirls got off to a fast start, leading 25-20 at the end of the first quarter behind some hot shooting. That was after taking a 22-20 lead with 3:25 left on Azjah Reeves’ layup. 

However, the Blazers closed quickly which was a sign of things to come.

“I thought we settled the last three quarters,” said Kennedy. “We were not attacking like we should have. We have to be better and have to compete.”

A strong second quarter for both teams kept things interesting as the Trailblazers led 48-46 at the half.

However, McNeese really struggled from there as both teams had problems in the third quarter. Utah Tech led 61-60 heading into the fourth quarter. That’s when the Cowgirls went from cold to fridged, missing their first nine shots from the field. 

That allowed the Blazers to pull away, outscoring McNeese 13-1 over the first four minutes of the fourth quarter. Ibarra was the key as she came into the game averaging just over six points a game.

“Give her credit, she came to play,” said Kennedy. “We didn’t have anybody step up to guard her though. I don’t want to take anything away from her.”

Kyla Davis led McNeese with 16 points while Mireia Yespes finished with 13, all coming in the first half.

The Cowgirls will try to break their three-game losing streak at home Wednesday night against St. Thomas University of Houston, Texas.