LAKE CHARLES, La. – The HCU women's basketball team made a late push in the fourth quarter but came up short in Southland Conference women's basketball action on Thursday evening at the Legacy, falling to McNeese, 72-64.
The first quarter was back-and-forth with 10 lead changes with the Huskies' (6-21, 1-15 SLC) 16-12 lead with 1:39 on the clock the largest lead of the first 10 minutes. McNeese (5-24, 1-15 SLC) led at the end of the quarter, however, 17-16.
After a
Yasmin Butler layup made it 19-18 early in the second quarter, the Cowgirls went on a 12-2 run to go up by 11. They then pushed that lead to a 38-24 advantage at halftime. In the third quarter, HCU managed to pull back within 10 multiple times but trailed by 11, 52-41, with just 10 left to play.
Erin Maguire opened scoring in the fourth with a layup and a free throw after getting fouled, cutting it to an eight-point game. A few minutes later, Emilia Tenbrock made a layup to bring the score to 60-48 in McNeese's favor. The Huskies started whittling away at their deficit from there but it again reached 10, 64-54, with just 3:14 to go.
Enya Maguire made a layup,
N'Denasija Collins converted an and-one and
Hannah Fields knocked down one-of-two free throws in a little over a minute to get the Huskies within four, 64-60, with 1:54 left on the clock. The two teams traded buckets on the next two possessions before McNeese put it out of reach in the final minute.
Erin Maguire, a redshirt freshman, matched a career-high with 17 points on 7-of-14 shooting from the floor and added a pair of assists.
Enya Maguire added 15 points, connecting on 5-of-16 from the field. Collins added 11 points and 13 rebounds to post her fourth double-double of the season.
The two teams were even on the boards with each side pulling down 39 rebounds with the Huskies forcing 17 McNeese turnovers while committing 16 turnovers of their own. HCU ended the night shooting 36.5 percent (23-of-63) from the floor as a team.
The Huskies are scheduled to host Texas A&M-Commerce on Saturday, Mar. 2, afternoon in Sharp Gym at 1:00 p.m. for Senior Day in the team's final home game of the season.
