McNeese State University - Log Yearbook (Lake Charles, LA)

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Picking Up the Pieces 1984-85 Cowgirl Basketball Nov. 21 Stephen F. Austin 57-63 Nov. 26 West FL Nov. 29 South AL Dec. 1 New Orleans Dec. 4NWLA Dec. 10 SW TX Dec. 12 Sam Houston Dec. 14 South AL Dec. 15 Spring Hill Dec. 17 New Orleans Jan. 7 SELA Jan. 10 Sam Houston Jan. 12 NW LA Jan. 14 SW TX 90-56 57-82 68-77 74-86 83-78 76-75 72-87 68-70 64-76 86-74 72-66 66-80 53-59 L Jan. W Jan. L Jan. L Jan. L Jan. W Feb. W Feb. L Feb. L Feb. L Feb. W Feb. W Feb. L Feb. L Mar. 19 North TX St 88-77 21 TX-Arlington 73-81 26 SW LA 73-72 28 NE LA 76-92 30 SE LA 58-65 4 AR St 85-67 7 South AL = 55-52 9 Lamar 62-65 14 North TX St 93-79 16 TX-Arlington 66-72 21 SWLA 71-61 23 NE LA 69-93 25 Lamar 76-80 2 AR St 62-66 ih in Sine PSS ei Sr With little depth on the bench, Coach Fountain was forced to play some inexperienced players to give his Starters a needed rest. (Photo by G. Little) gave new meaning to the term, ‘a 40-minute player’’. The Cowgirls began slowly, dropping a season-opening contest to Stephen F. Austin on the road 63-57. The next time out, however, the Cow- girls registered their first win, a 90-56 decision over West Flor- ida in Pensacola. Three straight losses fol- lowed the West Florida victory, and as McNeese prepared for its next home contest against Southwest Texas, Fountain’s concerns about depth be- came paramount. In all three losses — to New Orleans, South Alabama and Northwestern Louisiana — the Cowgirls had built comfortable halftime leads only to see them disappear in the second half as McNeese ran out of gas. Upgraded practices with more and more concentration on running began to strength- en McNeese for the heart of its schedule and the Cowgirls put together back-to-back wins for the first time with victories over Southwest Texas and Sam Houston State. With those wins it was also beginning to become appar- ent who the scorers were — Booker and Barrett. Both led, Booker ahead with 20.4 aver- age followed by Barrett with 18.6. Also in the scoring chase was Turner who got better and better as the season pro- gressed, averaging 12.9 points per game by season's end. Barrett's rebounding was another plus. She controlled the inside to average 14.7 re- bounds per contest, a figure that would keep her in the top ten nationally. The depth problem, howev- er, was one the Cowgirls could never quite overcome. Per- haps the most gallant effort of the season came at home against second ranked North- east Louisiana where the Cow- girls led by as many as ten points with just ten minutes re- maining in the contest only to fall in the final minutes 92-76. Booker put on a clinic in that contest scoring a game high, 33 points, and to show that it was no fluke, she came back two weeks later to score 32 continued Basketball 137

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After knee surgery and a year’s lay- off, junior Cathy Griffen still has what it takes as she gets the re- bound against the Cardinals of La- mar. (Photo by T. Maricle) Front row, left to right: Cathy Huey, Coach Mike Raissa Prince. Back row: Donna Barrett, Jenniff Fountain, Assistant Coach Ann Robique. Second row: Cormier, Keri Weston, Kris LeDoux, Kim Turner, Pi) Cathy Griffen, Cathy Deshotel, Cathy Thurmon, Booker. (Photo by G. Little) BY | Lucrecia Simpson, Dorothy Briscoe, Pam Lafosse, : a | q 136 Sports

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Picking Up the Pieces a more against Northeast in Monroe. There was little doubt Book- er was headed for All-South- land Conference honors de- spite the team’s final record of TAB TA When the final game was played Booker was selected to the elite team’s first unit. Booker was not the only Cowgirl awarded, however. Barrett received second team honors, and Briscoe got honor- able mention. ‘The fact that we had three of our starting five recognized says something for the effort this team gave, ’ said Foun- tain. ‘You can’t always mea- Sure a team’s success in wins.’ “For this team to get 11 vic- tories was quite an accom- plishment under the circum- stances,’’ Fountain added. ‘‘A lot of people didn't think we could win one game, much less 11. With a little more depth, we might have turned 138 Sports those close losses into wins, too. “The entire team will be back next season along with new recruits, and we will con- tinue to build until we get back on top.” As ateam the Cowgirls aver- aged 71.2 points per game scoring a season high 93 ina win over North Texas State and averaging 40.9 rebound per outing. There were also record-set- ting performances. Briscoe set a record for 141 assists, and Booker made the recorda- book with 14 straight field goals without a miss. Also Booker had 12 straight free throws which tied later with Barrett's. Barrett also tied another school record with 25 re- bounds against Southwest Texas. Booker finished the year climbing into the number five slot on the all-time career scor- ing list with 1.013 points. — all Six-foot sophomore from Lacas- sine, Jennifer Cormier, out leaps a A New Orlean s Buc-kette for an eight- Cy foot jump shot. The Cowgirls lost | ! 68-77. (Photo by G. Little) 7.