Box Score and Play-by-Play

ARLINGTON, Texas -  The Nicholls State University women's basketball team (5-9) battled the Texas-Arlington Mavericks (4-9) through eight tie scores and eight lead changes.  But a big second half by the Mavericks erased a six-point halftime lead for the Colonels as Nicholls fell 69-62 on Saturday in Arlington.

The Colonels were led by a trio of double-digit scorers.  Freshman forward LiAnn McCarthy returned after missing the last three games due to injury and tied for the team lead with 16 points on 7-for-11 shooting.  Also pouring in 16 points was junior Sumar Leslie, who went 5-for-11 from the floor while grabbing a team-high eight rebounds.  Freshman guard KK Babin added 12 points by draining four three-pointers.

However, in a hotly-contested back-and-forth affair, the Mavericks had their own double-digit scoring trio.  Briana Walker had a team-high 19 points, Shalyn Martin added 16 and Tamara Simmons added 15 to the Maverick cause.

After the first 14 minutes of the first half proved to be a see-saw battle with neither side claiming a lead larger than five, the Colonels broke a 24-24 tie with just over six minutes left by closing the half on an 11-5 run to take a 35-29 lead into the half.

However, the Mavericks answered in the second.  UTA opened the half by going on a 12-6 run to erase the Colonel lead and tie the game at 41-41 at 15:41 mark.  The Mavericks would go up by as many as seven as a jumper by Martin made it 54-47 with 8:41 remaining, but the Colonels stormed back.

Nicholls went on an 8-0 tear over the next 1:40.   A layup by senior guard Ricshanda Bickham capped the run and gave Nicholls a 55-54 lead with 6:47 left.  However, it wouldn't be enough.

The final six minutes featured two tie scores and the final lead change of the day as the Mavericks took the lead for good on a pair of free throws that made it 63-62 with 1:28 left.  UTA came up with a steal on the Colonels' next trip up the floor and converted on the other end to go up 65-62.  With Nicholls forced to foul, UTA hit four more free throws in the final 22 seconds to provide the 69-62 final.

The Colonels will now return to Thibodaux to open the home portion of the Southland Conference schedule by hosting Northwestern State on Jan. 12 and Sam Houston State on Jan. 15.