Cowgirls go for record win
Published 9:30 am Friday, February 27, 2026
No women’s basketball team has ever won 20 Southland Conference games in one season.
That can end Saturday.
McNeese State, under first-year coach Ayla Guzzardo, has a chance to do just that with a victory inside Lakefront Arena in New Orleans.
With the league’s regular season title already wrapped up, and the No. 1 seed in the upcoming SLC tournament, the Cowgirls can stamp their name on history with a win over last-place New Orleans (3-25, 3-17).
“We really do take things one game at a time,” said Guzzardo. “The records are really just stepping stones to where we want to get.”
That, of course, is the NCAA Tournament. Along the way, this Cowgirls’ team continues to leave its mark. McNeese (25-4, 19-1) will take an 18-game winning streak into the game, which is set for 2 p.m. and streaming on ESPN+.
McNeese (25-4, 19-1) will take an 18-game winning streak into the game, which is set for 2 p.m. and streaming on ESPN+.
“I haven’t even thought about it 20 wins, but it’s awesome,” said Guzzardo. “Never did I think we could do something like this, this fast.”
McNeese won the first meeting against New Orleans back on Jan. 24, 77-41 in Lake Charles. Jalencia Pierre led a balanced Cowgirls attack with 13 points.
McNeese put itself in position for 20 wins with a big second half Thursday night at Nicholls. The Cowgirls erased a 12-point halftime deficit (34-22) with a 17-2 run to start the second half and rolled from there.
The Cowgirls eventually topped Nicholls 69-59.
“The way we were playing the offense and defense in the first half wasn’t our style of basketball,” said McNeese head coach Ayla Guzzardo. “In the second half, we got downhill and hit our shots.”
McNeese outscored Nicholls, 47-25, in the last two quarters.
“End of the day, we got the win,” said Guzzardo. “It was a cool team win.”
Nicholls fell 8-12, 6-14, but the Colonels clinched a spot in the postseason with Houston Christian’s loss to Lamar. The eight tourney teams are in, with two games left, but the order remains undecided outside McNeese’s top seed.
The Cowgirls took their first lead of the night at 39-36 on Arianna Patton’s third 3-pointer of the third quarter, 4:13 in.
Patton finished with 11 points in the quarter as McNeese took a 51-46 lead into the fourth quarter, outscoring Nicholls 29-12. The Cowgirls started the fourth quarter on a 10-2 run with Dakota Howard hitting back-to-back buckets, making it 61-48 with 6:08 left.
Howard had eight of her 16 points in the fourth quarter. Patton led McNeese with 17 points, 14 coming in the final 20 minutes.
Lexi Alexander and Pierre added 11 points each for the Cowgirls. Alexander just missed a double-double with nine rebounds while Pierre dished out six assists.
Sh’Diamond McKnight led all scorers with 19 points for Nicholls. However, she fouled out midway through the fourth quarter, killing any chance of a Colonels’ comeback.
