Thursday night inside the Legacy Center could not have gone much worse for the Cowgirls.

Already falling to the last-place team in the Southland Conference, McNeese State suffered an even more significant loss to injury.

Leading scorer Paris Guillory, who returned to the area after spending her freshman season at Louisiana Tech after a record-setting prep career at St. Louis Catholic, was carried off the floor with just under two minutes remaining. 

It appeared to be an ankle injury and not her knee, which was operated on in the offseason and forced Guillory to miss the early portion of the season. McNeese head coach Lynn Kennedy said he would no more Friday. Guillory had 13 points to lead the Cowgirls.

“I don’t know much about it yet; I’ll have to check with the trainers,” said Kennedy.

As for the game, East Texas A&M, which entered the night having lost eight straight and 13 of 14, toppled the Cowgirls 67-51.

“Give them a lot of credit,” said Kennedy. “They came in here and played hard. We have to play hard. This comes back to me.”

The loss dropped McNeese to 8-15, 3-9 in the Southland. The Lions improved to 5-16, 2-10. 

The loss was the third straight and seventh in their last eight games for the Cowgirls, who likely have to win at least three of their final eight to make the SLC Tournament. Only the top eight teams in the regular season earn a spot in the postseason event, which will be held in Lake Charles in March.

McNeese missed the tournament last season. They remain tied with Texas A&M-Corpus Christi for eighth place but hold the tiebreaker.

The game was a microcosm of the entire McNeese season. One big run did in the Cowgirls. This time it happened at the end of the second quarter. 

After McNeese went on an 8-0 run to tie the game at 21, Kiayra Ellis’ runner with 5:22 left in the first half, everything went dark for the Cowgirls.

They missed their final six shots of the quarter and turned the ball over four times. When Hannah Humphrey hit a 3-pointer with three seconds left in the half, the Lions’ run was 14-0, and the lead at the break was 35-21.

Like usual, McNeese would rally, but inconsistent rebounding and offense would limit any comeback. 

“That has been the theme of our season,” said Kennedy. “Too much to overcome.”

The Cowgirls cut the lead to 49-42 late in the third quarter when ETAM got away with an apparent double dribble. Nykesh Sanders bounced the ball off her right leg, not three feet in front of an official.

Seconds later, Sanders hit a three., Instead of being able to cut the lead to five and enter the fourth, the Lions held a 52-42 advantage. ETAM scored the first six points of the fourth, and the Cowgirls never challenged again.

Tyrielle Williams added 11 points for McNeese, while. Wilnie Joseph had 11 rebounds before fouling out late in the fourth quarter. Williams was kicked out of the game after receiving a technical foul for pushing a Lions player with just over two minutes remaining.

Jordyn Newsome had 14 points to lead ETAM, which made nine of 19 3-point shots, while McNeese managed to hit just three of three.

The Cowgirls will be back at home Saturday when they host Northwestern State at 1 p.m.The Lady Demons (11-12, 8-5) are coming off a 68-60 victory at Nicholls Thursday night.

In the first meeting between the two teams on Jan. 2, Guillory finished with a career-high 26 points in the 70-55 loss. Now, her status for the game is in question.