Celebration on hold
Published 3:53 pm Tuesday, February 24, 2026
Cowgirls focused on finishing the job
There were no nets cut down; that’s for another day.
The celebration was subtle; that too will come later.
The Cowgirls aren’t finished and don’t want to give any impression that they are satisfied. That’s because of what happened last season.
A year ago, while at Southeastern, Jalencia Pierre remembers how the season ended.
After winning the Southland Conference by two games and being the favorite to go back to the NCAA Tournament, Pierre and the Lady Lions lost their regular-season finale, ending a 19-game winning streak.
Ironically, their loss to Corpus Christi kept McNeese out of the Southland’s postseason tournament. It also left the Lions an “unsatisfied” 26-6, as they lost in the tourney’s title game.
“We kind of lost focus,” said Pierre.
This year, Pierre and eight of her former SLU teammates are even more dominant at McNeese State. Having moved on with their head coach, Ayla Guzzardo, the group has already won the Southland title with a week to play.
At 24-4, and riding a 17-game winning streak, the Cowgirls say they are not going to lose focus this time.
“Last year we dropped the ball,” said guard Ty Sibley. “This year, we aren’t going to do that. We learned from that.”
Last Saturday, the Cowgirls beat Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. They will be the No. 1 seed in the upcoming SLC postseason tournament, which will be played on their home floor.
While they “lightly” celebrated the program’s third title, and first since 2011, all the real attention remains on the future.
“That is just the start of the chase,” said Pierre. “We can’t get too high, can’t get too low. We know what we want to do.”
With three games remaining, the Cowgirls can set even more records, but this is about winning every game. They know nothing has been accomplished yet.
“All the records are stepping stones to where we want to get,” said Guzzardo. “We can’t get distracted. I think that happened a little last year. We have our sights set on bigger things.”
Getting back to an NCAA regional is obviously the first step. That can only be done by winning the Southland tournament.
Ultimately, the Cowgirls want to do what their men’s counterparts did last season: win an NCAA game. The Cowboys did that in Will Wade’s second season, beating Clemson last spring.
To give themselves the best chance, the Cowgirls need to pile up as many wins as possible and secure their best seed. The Cowboys were a 12 seed in each of the last two tournaments.
“It’s important we keep playing hard and get our best possible seed,” said Guzzardo. “That is the key to winning tournament games. We have to give ourselves a shot.
“We are not going to be satisfied. We want more, more for our players, more for our coaches, we want more for our fans. It’s the reason why we came here.”
The Cowgirls finish the regular season with games at Nicholls (Thursday) and New Orleans (Saturday) before finishing at home against Stephen F. Austin.
“We want to finish what we started strong,” said Guzzardo. “We want to keep our momentum going into the postseason.”
Interestingly, the final game of the regular season will be at home next Monday against Stephen F. Austin, which beat Guzzardo’s crew in last year’s title game. It would also be the 20th straight win if the Cowgirls don’t lose beforehand, which is the same spot they lost focus last year.
Winning out and capturing the tournament, that’s the next step, and it’s a big one.
That’s when it’s time to cut down some nets.
