Nov. 9, 2007

Box Score

MONROE-- McNeese State's women's basketball team dropped its season opener 77-40 here Friday night to Louisiana-Monroe. Junior Courtnee' Hollins led the Cowgirls with 12 points on 5 of 13 from the field including two of three Cowgirl three-pointers.

Freshman Marcy Robinson Added 10 Points

Freshman Marcy Robinson chipped in 10 points on 3 of 7 from the field and was perfect from the charity stripe, connecting on all four attempts. Reeshimah Davis led the Cowgirls with six rebounds, five coming on the defensive end.

"Marcy played well late in the game. I'm proud of this team because they never quite, beginning with the starters all the way down to the reserves," said head coach Brooks Donald Williams.

A poor shooting night from three-point range (3-20) along with being outrebounded 54-31 played a big factor in the season opening loss.

"It wasn't even a match on the boards and that is an area of concern because of our size. We weren't aggressive and Louisian-Monroe was. They sent all but their point guard to rebound," said Williams.

UL-Monroe took an early lead on a layup by Shannon Lloyd on Louuisiana-Monroe's first possession of the game. The Warhawks held a 11-4 lead at the 14:20 minute mark and took its first double figure lead at the 11:47 minute mark.

McNeese would outscore ULM 7-0 in the next three minutes to cut the lead to 15-11 on a Kiara Johnson layup. ULM went on a scoring run of its own and took its largest lead of the half (31-14) with 3:44 left and held a 31-16 halftime lead.

"Offensively we never got in a rhythm. In practice we have been aggressive but tonight we were timid and weren't attacking."

The Warhawks continued to extend their lead in the second half and outscored the Cowgirls 46-26 while shooting 57.1 percent from the field.

"All of our non-conference games will prepare us for Jan. 5, our Southland Conference opener. We will take everything we learn from these games, win or lose and learn from them."