STEPHENVILLE, Texas – Tarleton State Women's Basketball fell short in a tightly-contested battle with McNeese, where the Cowgirls pulled away in the closing seconds to defeat the Texans 49-47 on Sunday at the EECU Center. 

McNeese and Tarleton State were neck and neck in the closing minutes of the fourth quarter before the Cowgirls hit the go-ahead basket with 11 seconds left. The Texans' 3-point attempt to win the game was missed at the buzzer. 

Freshman center Elodie Lutbert led the Texans with a career-high 14 points to go with six rebounds and three blocks. Senior guard Gia Adams added 12 points in 38 minutes Sunday. 

Senior guard/forward Kyriana Jones helped Tarleton State strike first, scoring the first four points for the Texans to give them the early advantage. After McNeese ended a three and a half minute scoring drought and tied the game, Tarleton State knocked down three 3-pointers to retake the lead. The Texans forced the Cowgirls to only five made baskets in their first 19 attempts to take a one-point lead at the end of the first quarter. 

Lutbert gave the Texans an early spark off the bench to start the second quarter. After knocking in a layup, the 6-foot-6-inch center blocked a pair of McNeese's shots. 

The spark shifted to Adams, who was coming off a season-high 21 points at Texas A&M on Thursday. Adams answered McNeese's go-ahead bucket with a 3-pointer and turned a steal into a basket just before the halftime horn to tie the game at 22. 

Tarleton State took advantage of back-to-back second chance buckets to start the third quarter before an Adams layup extended the early lead. McNeese, however, responded with three baskets of its own to take a three-point lead. The lead swung back towards Tarleton State thanks to a 3-pointer from Mar'Cyah Willis with under a minute left in the third quarter. 

Fans at the EECU Center were treated to an encore courtesy of Adams to end the third quarter. Adams drove past the Cowgirls' defense and banked in a floating layup as time expired, giving the Texans momentum and a 37-33 lead entering the fourth quarter. 

The Cowgirls answered quickly in the game's final period, scoring six unanswered points to go with a second-chance layup to take a 41-39 lead with five minutes left. Tarleton State responded by feeding Lutbert inside, who converted a layup to tie it once again. 

When McNeese converted on offense in the closing minutes, Tarleton State had the answer. The Cowgirls knocked down a jumper with 1:29 left in regulation before Lutbert got the putback layup to tie the score again. McNeese converted a fastbreak layup with 11 seconds left and Tarleton State missed the go-ahead 3-point attempt as the final horn sounded. 

Tarleton State begins a three-game road trip Thursday, traveling to Fort Worth first to face nationally-ranked TCU at 6:30 p.m. 

Postgame Notes

• McNeese defeated Tarleton State 49-47 on Sunday at the EECU Center, hitting the go-ahead layup with 11 seconds to play. The series record between the two schools is now tied 1-1.
• Freshman center Elodie Lutbert scored a career-high 14 points to go with six rebounds and three blocked shots. Sunday marked her first double-digit point game at the collegiate level. 
• Lutbert and junior forward Tessa Engelman combined for five blocked shots in the first half. Engelman (3) had her fourth collegiate game with 3+ blocks. 
• Senior guard Gia Adams scored 12 points in 38 minutes, her fourth game in double digits this season. Adams is averaging 16.5 points per game over her last two contests. 
• Junior forward/center Jailynn Brill made her Texan debut Sunday. Brill, a transfer from Western Kentucky and later Chipola College, played her first minutes of Division I basketball since the 2023-24 season.