Paris Guillory is back, and the Cowgirls hope to find a little rhythm as they finish the non-conference portion of their schedule on Monday night.

That, however, won’t be easy. 

McNeese State’s final tuneup before starting Southland Conference play will come at Oklahoma State, which is 9-1 overall and 8-0 at home.

“They are playing really good right now,” said McNeese head coach Lynn Kennedy. “They are playing like a Top 25 team to me. They can score a lot of points.”

Oklahoma State is ninth in the country in scoring, scoring 87.9 points per game. Its biggest weapon is long-range shooting.

OSU leads the nation in 3-point shooting percentage, connecting on 42.2 percent (105-249). They are sixth in threes per game at 10.6.

Guard Micah Gray leads the way at 17.2 points per game, hitting 3.1 threes an outing. Stailee Heard is right behind her at 13.9 but making a whopping 57% of her threes (21-37) to lead the nation.

“They can shoot the basketball,” said Kennedy. “We are going to have to close out on their shooters quick.”

McNeese (5-5) is just one victory short of last season’s total during a 6-25 campaign. 

“We are not where we want to be right now,” said Kennedy. “We know we have left a couple of games out there. But we are getting better.”

Getting Guillory back on the court helps a lot. The transfer from Louisiana Tech made her McNeese debut last Sunday in a loss to Longwood. 

The sophomore guard scored 12 points in just under 19 minutes after being slowed by a knee injury.

“This is the best I have felt in a long time,” said Guillory. “I’m excited to be back playing.”

While her minutes will remain limited, she enters the game as the top scorer on McNeese per game. The balanced McNeese attack is fourth in the country in points off the bench at 36.9. 

“We have a lot of players who can score,” said Kennedy. “What we need to do is be more consistent, especially coming out in the third quarter.”

Mireia Yespes is averaging 9.3 points for McNeese, while freshman Lyla Kahrimanovic has been coming on strong, averaging 8.8 points and jumping into the starting lineup recently. 

“Her energy has been great all year, and we needed that,” said Kennedy. “She is athletic and gives length to our defense. She tips a lot of basketballs.”

McNeese will open league play against Southeastern, the preseason favorite, on Saturday, Dec. 21, at 1 p.m. in the Legacy Center.