Baseball head coach Justin Hill is not phased by preseason polls

Baseball head coach Justin Hill is not phased by preseason polls

By Corey Greineisen

Staff Writer

It was two different stories for the men’s and women’s basketball teams as they started their road trip at Northwestern State. Both the teams were in close games toward the end but the Cowgirls took advantage while the Cowboys fell flat.

Allison Baggett and Cecilia Okoye, McNeese's top two scorers, were both held scoreless in the first half but they were able to make big shots late in the game when the Cowgirls needed them.  Okoye ended the game with six points in the final four minutes of the game but none was bigger than the last two.  Okoye made a layup with 2.6 seconds left to play to give McNeese a thrilling 59-57 Southland Conference win over Northwestern State. Okoye also contributed on the boards as she grabbed a game high 11 rebounds.

Baggett ended the game with nine points with three coming from a huge three-pointer with 10:50 left in the game to tie the game at 37. She hit a jumper with 8:08 left to cut the Lady Demon lead to 43-42 and then gave the Cowgirls a 46-45 lead on another jumper with 6:10 left.

The men’s basketball team on the other hand fared quite differently at the hands of Northwestern. McNeese trailed just 73-69 with 3:32 to play when Northwestern used its quickness and speed to put together a quick 6-0 run to grab a 10-point lead with less than two minutes to play to help close out the game.

Ledrick Eackles had one of his better shooting nights of the season to lead McNeese with 23 points while Craig McFerrin continued his recent hot streak by scoring 17 points on 7 of 10 shooting and pulled down seven rebounds. Kevin Hardy just missed out on a double-double with nine points and a game and season-high nine assists. Despite their performance the Cowboy’s fell 85- 74.

Neither team was able to pull of the win against Stephen F. Austin. Turnovers cost the Cowboys and they fell 74-54. The Cowgirls suffered through another bad shooting night, ending the game shooting 25.8 percent from the field.  The Cowgirls were held to just one attempt on the offensive side for most of the game as SFA out rebounded McNeese 48-29. He Cowgirls fell in a 69-49 loss.