This time the hole wasn’t too deep.

This time the deficit wasn’t too great.

And this time, the comeback was enough. 

The Cowgirls won in Corpus Christi, Texas, for the first time in nine tries. 

Rallying from a poor shooting first half, McNeese State bounced back for a 59-54 victory over Texas A&M-Corpus Christi inside American Bank Center Monday night.

“We needed this one,” said McNeese head coach Lynn Kennedy. “We have been working hard. It wasn’t always pretty, but we got it done.”

The Cowgirls snapped a four-game losing streak, improving to 3-6 in the Southland Conference and 8-12 overall. They also took sole possession of the eighth and final postseason tournament spot ahead of TAMCC (10-10, 2-7).

“Every game is like a playoff game for us,” Kennedy said. “We have to be focused every time out.”

With the game on the line, McNeese put the ball in the hands of sophomore Paris Guillory, who responded by scoring six of the final seven points. Her runner with 24 seconds remaining gave McNeese a 55-53 lead. 

She finished by hitting four straight free throws to seal the deal.

“Paris is a clutch free throw shooter, so we put the ball in her hands,” said Kennedy. 

Guillory finished with a game-high 18 points, all in the second half. 

Sophomore Boston Berry came up big, starting the third-quarter rally with a pair of 3-pointers. Berry finished with 13 points.

“Everybody stepped up; it was a big team win,” said Kennedy. “Boston had a huge night. We really needed it.”

Down 28-17 at halftime after making just four of 25 shots, the Cowgirls hit five 3-pointers in the third quarter alone. They tied the game 43-43 after three, thanks to the hot shooting and defense.

“They just lit us up in that third quarter,” Corpus Christi coach Royce Chadwick said. “We tried every defense we had and could not stop them.”

The two teams played close from there until Guillory took over to close things out. 

“I wasn’t unhappy with the shots we got in the first half,” said Kennedy. “We were getting good shots. A lot of them were going in and out.”

McNeese had cut the lead despite the poor start to 21-17 on Berry’s first three of the game. But the Islanders scored the final seven points of the first half to gain back control.

The Cowgirls will be back home Thursday night when they host Incarnate Word at 6 p.m. in the Legacy Center. UIW beat New Orleans 58-55 Monday night.

All the women’s games were moved from last Thursday due to travel issues from the winter storm that dumped snow on the Gulf Coast.