McNeese Cowgirls (17-4, 11-1 Southland) at Lamar Cardinals (13-6, 10-2 Southland)

Beaumont, Texas; Saturday, 4 p.m. EST

BOTTOM LINE: McNeese plays Lamar after Dakota Howard scored 20 points in McNeese’s 70-64 win over the Stephen F. Austin Ladyjacks.

The Cardinals have gone 9-0 at home. Lamar is 0-1 in games decided by less than 4 points.

The Cowgirls are 11-1 in Southland play. McNeese ranks fourth in the Southland with 13.5 assists per game led by Jalencia Pierre averaging 3.6.

Lamar makes 41.1% of its shots from the field this season, which is 3.9 percentage points higher than McNeese has allowed to its opponents (37.2%). McNeese scores 9.7 more points per game (68.2) than Lamar allows to opponents (58.5).

The Cardinals and Cowgirls face off Saturday for the first time in Southland play this season.

TOP PERFORMERS: Kamryn Wilson is scoring 11.7 points per game with 3.6 rebounds and 1.5 assists for the Cardinals. R’Mani Taylor is averaging 9.1 points and 3.6 assists over the past 10 games.

Howard is scoring 12.7 points per game and averaging 6.0 rebounds for the Cowgirls. Arianna Patton is averaging 8.8 points and 0.7 rebounds over the last 10 games.

LAST 10 GAMES: Cardinals: 8-2, averaging 66.2 points, 32.7 rebounds, 12.0 assists, 8.7 steals and 2.4 blocks per game while shooting 43.8% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 57.2 points per game.

Cowgirls: 10-0, averaging 68.9 points, 33.1 rebounds, 13.1 assists, 14.5 steals and 1.4 blocks per game while shooting 40.4% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 49.0 points.

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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.