The women’s basketball team continued their struggles in Southland Conference action with a pair of losses against the McNeese State Cowgirls and the Southeastern Louisiana Lions.The Colonels pulled within one in the final two minutes but could not climb over the hump against the Cowgirls, falling 54-52.

Despite outscoring the Cowgirls 15-7 in the final 10 minutes, the Colonels were unable to pick up their first win in conference play.

Junior guard Ricshanda Bickham lead the Colonels with 17 points, and sophomore forward Chelsea McNamee came off the bench and had a career-high 12 points.

“We fought and played hard enough to win despite a few mistakes,” head coach DoBee Plaisance said. “I’m confident in our team that we will learn from this and move forward. As long as we keep playing with the effort and intensity we have been playing with, we will be fine.”

In only their third SLC road trip, the Colonel’s lost 60-49 to the Lions.

The Colonels were plagued by turnovers throughout the game. The Colonels committed 26 turnovers that lead to 28 points by the Lions.

Bickham continued her hot streak, scoring 16 points in the loss. She is second in the SLC in scoring, averaging just less than 20 points per game.

True freshman forward Alisha Allen played the entire 40 minutes and posted her second career double-double, scoring 16 points and grabbing 11 rebounds.

The Colonels will continue SLC action when they take on Texas A&M Corpus Christi Feb. 6 in Stopher Gym.