I know many eyes are still focused on the college football and NFL playoffs, but come January, it\u2019s time to break away from the turf and get back to the hardwood.<\/p>\n
All-important conference schedules tipped off around the country recently, which means March Madness can\u2019t be that far away.<\/p>\n
The McNeese Cowboys and Cowgirls, both riding high from recent big non-conference wins, opened Southland Conference play with a double header at home against the SLC\u2019s elite Stephen F. Austin and middle-of-the-pack Houston Baptist at Burton Coliseum.<\/p>\n
The McNeese teams split against SFA, with the Cowgirls coming out on the winning end, and the Cowboys losing a hard-fought 80-75 battle.<\/p>\n
The Cowgirls made it two straight by downing Houston Baptist to run their record to 8-5 and a nifty 2-0 start in conference. The Cowboys dug themselves into a 0-2 hole in the SLC after falling to Houston Baptist 68-56\/ With two straight conference losses at home, the McNeese men will have to scheme up two extra road wins to balance out the slow conference start.<\/p>\n
When you talk Cowgirls basketball with veteran head coach Brooks Donald Williams, you try to avoid the word \u201crebuilding\u201a\u201d because it usually makes her cringe; her face tenses up, and her eyes get smaller. Williams has won enough conference and tournament championships, and has laid down such a foundation of winning, with high expectations, that \u201crebuilding\u201d is not part of her vocabulary.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s hard to ignore the fact that her players are young. Try an even dozen freshmen and sophomores, to go with four juniors and seniors. Maybe it\u2019s not a totally new construction, but it\u2019s surely a blue and gold remodel. Taking down the defending SLC champion and preseason favorite Lady Jacks so early on should instill confidence, but with all this youth, Williams is not sure how this will register.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re so young I\u2019m not sure our kids really understand that,\u201d she says. \u201cI\u2019ve got eight freshmen and four sophomores, so I don\u2019t know if they really grasp that. My several veteran kids understand the rivalry with SFA, and over the last four or five years, we have gone head to head, and won titles. Regardless, it\u2019s a new season, and a good start, and we have a long way to go. I do know they understand that.\u201d<\/p>\n
You could see the talent and spark from the mainstay players, as they opened up a 14-point lead against the Lady Jacks.\u00a0 There were way too many missed lay-ups and point-blank shots in the first half, but the Cowgirls made up for it with timely three-pointers and solid defense.<\/p>\n
The backcourt duo of junior guards Allison Baggett and Jayln Johnson are clearly the bread and butter of this team. They are the leading scorers, with Baggett averaging 17 or more points per game, and Johnson chipping in 12 points, and nearly four assists, per game.<\/p>\n
SFA made their run in the second half, as McNeese squandered a double-digit cushion, but the Cowgirls survived the body blows from the rally, and pushed through, with a few big treys from sophomore Amber Donnes, and big drives and buckets from the plucky Johnson.<\/p>\n
\u201cRegardless of losing the lead and getting the win, I thought we played a fantastic game from start to finish. SFA is a really good team, and we knew that coming in. Hats off to our kids for a great ballgame. We won it with a lot of toughness to finish and finish them off. I am really, really proud of that. Just couldn\u2019t be prouder of our fight,\u201d beamed Williams.<\/p>\n
Because of their inexperience in some areas, in particular the bench, the Cowgirls will have to summon a lot more of that fighting spirit to be a part of the conference conversation this winter. Baggett\u2019s all conference talents are obvious. She can score from anywhere on the court, be a factor on the boards, and plays solid defense. Johnson runs the offense from the point, and is fearless on penetrating to create shots. Donnes has DNA that won\u2019t allow her to play soft or give an inch. She is an in-your-face defender, and is physical on the blocks.<\/p>\n
The Cowgirls don\u2019t have great size, with only two six-footers, Frederica Haywood and Talisa Boyd, in the starting lineup. But they are both averaging close to six rebounds per game.<\/p>\n
The bench can get scoring and leadership help from senior guard Alaina Verdin, but beyond her, it\u2019s young and unpredictable.<\/p>\n
That is to be expected with this roster. What Williams does demand is work ethic, defense and constant improvement, and she likes what she has seen so far.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think we are getting better every day. Our post play is getting better. I think we are getting five different scorers from the perimeter and post. We are deep and youthful, and an exciting team to watch. I just think we have so much room to grow and get better and win. What a fun way to get better,\u201d Williams says.<\/p>\n
Williams is on the verge of becoming the Cowgirls\u2019 all-time winningest head coach. She stands a couple of wins shy of eclipsing former coach and current McNeese Associate AD Bridget Martin\u2019s record of 131 career wins. In her eighth season, Williams wasn\u2019t fully aware of her numbers when I asked her about it, nor does she pay much attention to it at this point of the season.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have no idea (of her total career wins). I only care about our team getting better, and we continue our fight to get to Katy. All the other stuff is really not important to me. Coaches are here to make the kids better, and that\u2019s all we care about,\u201d says Williams.<\/p>\n
The Cowboys recently notched an impressive 66-47 road win over the SEC\u2019s Mississippi State. Now, these Bulldogs should not be confused with their talented brethren from the football field, but a victory over any major conference team is a notable achievement for McNeese.<\/p>\n
That MSU win is diminished with the back-to-back defeats in league play, but it goes to show that basketball at any level is week-by-week, game-by-game.<\/p>\n
Something tells me head coach Dave Simmons and his crew would trade that Mississippi State win and, for that matter, the impressive home win over rival UL-Lafayette for conference victories over Stephen F. Austin and Houston Baptist.<\/p>\n
No doubt, the win at Starkville bolstered the Cowboys\u2019 confidence so that they could battle toe-to-toe against the defending SLC champion Lumberjacks. But they came away with no moral high ground, after falling five points short.<\/p>\n
If this physical, body-on-body battle is any indication of league play this season, the Cowboys might want to increase their time in the weight room.<\/p>\n
No wonder SFA won 30 games and advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament last year. The Jacks are big, strong and fast, and will contest every pass and every shot. The win over McNeese ran their winning streak to 10 straight, which includes victories over Memphis, Long Beach State, North Texas, Austin Peay and Texas State.<\/p>\n
They are the preseason favorites, and will be the team to beat in the SLC.<\/p>\n
With that said, McNeese held a late lead, and needed only a three-pointer down the stretch to force overtime against the SLC\u2019s best.<\/p>\n
\u201cComing into the game, we knew we could beat this team, so this loss is disappointing,\u201d says senior guard Kevin Hardy, who noted there were no moral victories in just playing SFA close.<\/p>\n
McNeese\u2019s starters are all products of Lake Charles, and that includes three seniors. Hardy, an all conference performer from St. Louis High, has teamed up with fellow guard Keelan Garrett, also out of St. Louis, and senior forward Desharick Guidry from Washington Marion.<\/p>\n
Sophomore guard Jamaya Burr and junior center Austin Lewis finish out the first five.<\/p>\n
They carry the load, but have gotten timely bench help from guard Shaun Johnson, who nailed four big three-point shots against SFA, and junior center Matt Moss, who has finally come out of his shell and shooting slump.<\/p>\n
McNeese\u2019s non-conference schedule has been deemed the hardest in the country, as the Cowboys face road dates at LSU, TCU, Baylor and Mississippi State. Throw in home games against UL-Lafayette and MAC powers Toledo and Central Michigan. A 6-5 record after that looks awfully promising for a team that needs to make a run in the SLC this year, especially with those three aforementioned seniors on their way out.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith Keelan picking it up, and getting points from Shaun off the bench, it just gives us other options to score. We will need that going forward. You have to come ready to play in this conference, and our guys did that against SFA, even though we fell a bit short,\u201d Simmons said.<\/p>\n
A much-improved non-conference slate, and some confidence-building home games, have the Cowboys thinking they can be conference championship contenders.<\/p>\n
We\u2019ve heard that before. Promise and potential went unrealized with conference slumps and fades.<\/p>\n
A serious SLC run, for McNeese, will depend on consistent effort and the team\u2019s ability to match opponents\u2019 scoring runs. They failed to do that against the Huskies of Houston Baptist after going scoreless during a critical five minute stretch of the game.<\/p>\n
Guidry has made headlines with his recent string of nine straight double-double games, which is a new McNeese record. Guidry acknowledged his run of double-doubles has affected the bottom line, but his focus is on getting this team better over individual numbers. \u201cI come out to play hard every night. Stats are great, but I am more worried about team improvement and getting better every day.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Cowboys have a tendency to run the gamut on field goal shooting and free throws.<\/p>\n
Some nights it\u2019s an impressive 50-percent\/80-percent shooting percentage from the field and free throw lines.\u00a0 But there have been games in which 27 percent from the field was the best the team could do. That won\u2019t win you many games.<\/p>\n
Defense is critical, but in the end you have to score more than the other guys. That\u2019s where scoring options and the bench factor in.<\/p>\n
In the SFA loss, it took Guidry well into the second half to get in the offensive swing, but then Garrett came up with a career-high 26 points, and Johnson came off the bench with those four three-point shots.<\/p>\n
Basketball is a back-and-forth, ever-changing game, and for the Cowboys to win, they will have to minimize that changing nature of the game, and find a consistent middle ground of scoring and defense.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re starting to put a whole game together. Against Mississippi State, we put a whole game in. We played defense from the beginning to the end. That\u2019s what it\u2019s about. Defense will make up for our offense at times. If we don\u2019t score on one end, we need to stop them from scoring. Finishing is a big part of any sport.\u00a0 We have to finish on the rim, finish on the shot, and finish games,\u201d Guidry says.<\/p>\n
How the Cowboys end up finishing over these two months of SLC matchups will fall squarely on the shoulders of these three local seniors. This is a special trio of home-grown talent, with great leadership skills.<\/p>\n
Their window of opportunity is now open, but will soon close as the calendar begins to flip towards March.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Get Rick Sarro\u2019s perspectives on sports on Soundoff 60, which airs Monday through Sunday nights at 9 pm on Suddenlink Channel 60 and Saturday and Sunday mornings at 10 am as well.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I know many eyes are still focused on the college football and NFL playoffs, but come January, it\u2019s time to break away from the turf and get back to the hardwood. All-important conference schedules tipped off around the country recently, which means March Madness can\u2019t be that far away. The McNeese Cowboys and Cowgirls, both [&hellip<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":278,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[120,64,33],"yoast_head":"\n