KATY, Texas -- Van Chancellor barged inside the Merrill Center media room just as McNeese State’s postgame press conference began. A color analyst at this Southland Conference tournament, the former LSU coach and Olympic gold medalist apologized for interrupting the proceedings, though he was granted an understood leeway given those aforementioned credentials.
He moved toward the dais, where Mercedes Rogers and Frederica Haywood flanked their first-year head coach.
“Haywood and Rogers,” he bellowed, “Two most dominant players I’ve seen in a long time.”
Both finished with double-doubles, exploiting a grossly undersized Nicholls State team that McNeese out-rebounded, 61-23, in its 79-58 first-round win against the No. 7 seed Colonels on Thursday.
McNeese was two boards shy of tying the single-game Southland Tournament record set in 2007 by Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. It had as many offensive rebounds (23) as Nicholls had total boards.
“Rebounding machines,” coach Kacie Cryer quipped following her first postseason win as a head coach.
Three inches taller than any Colonels starter, Haywood secured her double-double with three minutes and 50 seconds remaining in the first half. She went into the halftime locker room with 13 rebounds. Nicholls State had 11.
Haywood finished with a team-high 14 points — one of five Cowgirls in double figures — and a game-high 19 rebounds. Rogers added 12 points and 11 rebounds, six of which came in the second half.
“We know everyone came into this tournament to win because it was go hard or go home right now,” Haywood said. “We knew we had to bring extra effort in this tournament to win, so that’s what we did.”
Nineteen days after the Nicholls forced McNeese into playing its style — a deliberate, halfcourt-centric game in Burton Coliseum that ended in 59-52 the Cowgirls’ favor despite their 30 turnovers — Cryer’s bunch reverted to its more suitable pace.
It ran ragged an injury-plagued Nicholls team that dressed nine players, scoring 14 fast-break points and 46 more in the paint.
The Colonels began the game on a 5-0 run, their last sniff of offensive competency. Eleven of their 12 second-quarter shots missed, affording the Cowgirls a 14-point halftime lead. Nicholls, tops in the Southland in made 3-point shots, shot 29 percent from the field and missed 23 of its 29 3-pointers.
“We really cleaned some things up in our gameplan, did a great job keeping them in front and keeping a hand up to contest the three,” Cryer said. “And by doing that we really got them out of rhythm.”
An unsightly 4-for-23 from the three-point line notwithstanding, the Cowgirls offense looked smoother than it has in weeks. There were 17 assists on 29 made baskets.
Amber Donnes and Dede Sheppard, when they weren’t running in transition, eviscerated the Colonels with back cuts out of crisp offensive sets captained by freshman Caitlin Davis, making her first postseason start.
“A lot of things open up and it’s a lot better flow when we rebound,” Donnes said. “Our energy was different and (Davis) had the mindset that nobody was stopping her.”
Donnes, Rogers, Haywood and Victoria Rachal took seats with six minutes left in the fourth quarter while their team’s lead ballooned to 24.
“To get to where we want to go, we have to win four in a row,” Cryer said. “Being able to have them rest for a little while was huge
Donnes remembers little of her team’s lone meeting with No. 3 seed Stephen F. Austin, McNeese’s opponent at 1:30 p.m. Friday in the second round. Led by Southland Player of the Year Taylor Ross’ 28 points, the Ladyjacks ran the Cowgirls off the Burton Coliseum floor, 96-65, on Jan. 2.
“I just remember that Taylor Ross scored way too many points on us,” Donnes said. “She’s really good at being a point guard and still scoring. Makes you think you have her stopped and you don’t. Defensive help is going to be big.”
Added Cryer: “Both of us, obviously, have gotten better as teams. But when you’re in Katy, it’s a new season.”
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