HOUSTON – The HBU women's basketball dominated against the McNeese Cowgirls with a 61-45 victory on Saturday afternoon. Huskies recently fell 73-55 to the Cowgirls just five days before and were able to defend their home court Sharp Gym for the rematch. 

HBU (9-8, 4-4 SLC) took a three-point lead to end the first after both teams exchanged back and forth points. Marilyn Nzoiwu started the second with a second chance jump shot to pull the lead by five. McNeese (6-12, 6-5 SLC) try to put pressure to get back in a lead but after HBU went 6-8 at the line and outrebound 15-7, the Huskies were up 24-20 going into the half.

The Huskies came out of the locker room with an explosive third period. After a couple free throw from Timia Jefferson, Enya Maguire put up a fast break jump shot off from a Jefferson steal. Jefferson chips in a second chance layup to force a Cowgirl timeout with HBU up by 10. The Huskies maintained their lead, but McNeese was able to inch close after outscoring 11-2 at the five-minute mark of the third. Back up by five, Kennedy Wilson sinks a three and with a second chance layup from Julija Vujakovic and four free throws from N'Denasija Collins, the Huskies are back to an 11-point lead. Collins began the final period with a layup from Wilson assistance. After a Vujakovic layup and a couple free throws from Jefferson, the Huskies hit their biggest lead of the game with 18. With a strong finish from Jefferson scoring five of the last seven points, the Huskies claim the rematch 61-45.  

HBU had three Huskies in double digits led by Jefferson with 19 points and her added five rebounds. Collins followed close behind in her highest scoring game of the season with 17 while adding eight rebounds. Wilson posted 11 points while Vujakovic added eight points and seven rebounds. Nzoiwu posted her best defensive night totaling 13 boards on the game. HBU went 31.1 percent from the field and 83.3 percent from the line going 20-for-24 while outrebounding McNeese 50-31. 

The Cowgirls were led by Divine Tanks with 16 points and six rebounds. Claralee Richard posted nine points and three steals while Kyla Hamilton was close behind with eight points. Lizzy Ratcliff led with seven boards on the game. McNeese shot 28 percent from the field with 11 points from the bench and went 14-for-16 at the line. 

The Huskies will have a quick turnaround as the head to play a 7 p.m. game against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi on Monday, March 1 to begin their final week of regular season play.