Looking to build off their best, but most disappointing, game of the season, the Cowgirls head to Corpus Christi as part of a Texas two-step road trip.

McNeese State will take on the Islanders Thursday at 7 p.m. after falling last Saturday in overtime to Southland Conference co-leader Southeastern.

Texas A&M-Corpus Christi is one game off the pace of both the Lady Lions and Lamar, McNeese’s last two opponents, at 3-1 in the conference and 10-5 overall.

The Cowgirls are 0-4, 4-13 and still looking for their first victory over a Division I opponent.

“I think we did get some confidence, starting with the Lamar game,” said McNeese head coach Lynn Kennedy. “It may not have looked like it, but we know we can play with these teams. Now we have to realize we can be good and go out and prove it.”

If the Cowgirls are going to have a chance against Corpus then they must at least slow down senior forward Alecia Westbrook. She scored 28 points in the Islanders’ two double-digit wins over McNeese last season.

This year the 6-foot-1 Westbrook is averaging 11.3 points and 7.8 rebounds a game. She is shooting at a 48.5 percent clip from the field.

“Westbrook is a good player, especially in the post,” said Kennedy. “We are going to try and do a couple of things to get her out of the paint. We don’t want her to get comfortable in there.”

That means the Cowgirls will try to be more physical, something they did a better job at doing Saturday against Southeastern.

“We have really tried to do that in practices, working on being physical and rebounding,” said Kennedy. “We will have to keep them off the glass. It won’t be easy.”

McNeese is led by Emilia Trenbrock, who is second in the league in scoring at 15.3. Lamar’s Sebrina Dean leads the SLC at 15.4.

Trenbrock has scored 79 points (26.3) over the last three games. The junior transfer has been on the floor for all but three of the 125 minutes the Cowgirls have played over the last three games.

McNeese’s two freshmen guards, Boston Berry and Azjah Reeves, played all 45 minutes like Trenbrock Saturday against the Lady Lions.

“We are stuck with this right now,” said Kennedy. “With our injuries, we are down to no backup point guards.”

Since league play began, reeves has picked up her scoring, averaging 11.5 over the four conference games. That included a career-best 16 Saturday.

Junior Mireia Yespes had 26 points and a career-high 14 rebounds against the Lions as well.

 McNeese will be at Incarnate Word on Saturday afternoon. The Cardinals enter play tonight with a 2-2 league record and 9-6 overall.

“We just have to keep working and keep getting better,” said Kennedy.