Some holes are just too deep to dig out of.

The Cowgirls found that out Saturday afternoon in Edinburg, Texas.

Playing Texas Rio-Grande Valley for the first time as a Southland Conference foe, McNeese State’s women’s basketball team started a key stretch of their season.

Needing to make a run if they want to get into the postseason, the Cowgirls started a streak of four games in eight days, three on the road, with their longest trip of the year.

It showed early, as they fell behind by double figures. They then made a huge rally late in the third quarter but ran out of gas and fell to the Vaqueros 73-65.

The loss was the fourth straight for the Cowgirls, who fell to 7-12, 2-6 as they head to Texas A&M-Corpus Christi on Monday. UTRGV improved to 10-10, 5-4. 

“I just didn’t think we matched their intensity at the start,” said McNeese head coach Lynn Kennedy. “I thought we survived the first quarter. We got them in foul trouble in the second quarter, and their bigs survived that storm. 

“We are learning, but we are running out of time to learn. We have got to be better in the big moments.”

Monday’s game was originally scheduled for last Thursday night in Corpus Christi, but the rare snowstorm forced travel concerns and postponed it. As a result, all SLC women’s all games were moved to Monday as part of a women’s/men’s doubleheader. 

McNeese will play at 4:30 p.m. against the Islanders before the men’s game. 

“This will change some of our strategies,” Kennedy said. “We will have to manage the days between games better. 

“With three of the next four on the road, we have to be prepared. We have to be ready to fight.”

The Cowgirls showed some fight after falling behind 35-24 at halftime.

Down by as many as 17 points in the third quarter, McNeese rallied. The Cowgirls closed the quarter on a 10-1 run over the final 1:52, cutting the lead to 53-46 entering the fourth.

Three-point shots by Paris Guillory and Kiayra Ellis started the rally. Ellis hit a running layup to finish the quarter. 

Ellis led the Cowgirls with 17 points, Tyrielle Williams added 15 and Azjah Reeves finished with 11. Reeves also had eight rebounds and four assists.

McNeese could have gotten even closer, but Reeves missed a pair of free throws with just 1.6 remaining. The Cowgirls missed 11 of their 26 free throw attempts as a group.

“We got to hit free throws,” said Kenedy. “We made it to the free throw line, but we got to make them, especially on the road.”

Williams hit a 3-pointer to start the fourth to make it 55-52, but that’s as close as McNeese would get. 

“I’m proud of the team; we fought until the end,” Kennedy said. “I thought we were winning the game when we got to within three. We have to be better in those moments.”

Charlotte O’Keefe, the Southland’s leading rebounder, had a big day for the Vaqueros. The forward finished with a career-high and 20 rebounds, hitting 9 of 15 from the field. She was one of four UTRGV players to finish with double figures.

One area in which the Cowgirls improved was turnovers. McNeese had just seven in the game, 13 below their average.