THIBODAUX, La. – The Nicholls State University women's basketball team will look to earn a pair of season sweeps against in-state rivals New Orleans and Southeastern Louisiana as the Colonels conclude their four-game Southland Conference road swing, starting with a Thursday night matchup with UNO at Lakefront Arena at 5:30 p.m.

Following the game with the Privateers (0-22, 0-11), Nicholls (12-10, 7-4) will head to Hammond to take on the Lady Lions (6-16, 5-5) at 2 p.m. on Saturday. Both games will be broadcast live on KNSU 91.5 FM, with pregame coverage scheduled to begin 15 minutes prior to tipoff.

Riding a five-game winning streak after a thrilling double overtime victory at Stephen F. Austin, the Colonels came out sluggish at Northwestern State on Saturday, falling behind double digits early. The Lady Demons scorched the nets in the first half by hitting seven 3-pointers, and the Colonels were never able to mount any sort of a comeback. The loss to NSU put Nicholls two games behind first-place Central Arkansas in the standings, and placed the Colonels into a third-place tie with SFA.

After snafus early in the conference road schedule, Nicholls put together consecutive wins away from Stopher Gym, defeating McNeese before its 50-minute battle with the Ladyjacks. But the road woes which Nicholls has dealt with much of the season, mainly on defense, came back at Natchitoches. After holding McNeese and SFA to under 40 percent from the field, the Colonels allowed Northwestern State to shoot 47 percent on the day and 50 percent from behind the arc. NSU also made 10 3-pointers in the win, which tied the most by a Colonel opponent this season.

Although the Colonels rank near the bottom of the Southland in field goal percentage defense (.425/12th), Nicholls has been one of the best teams not only in the conference, but in the nation, at causing turnovers. Heading into Thursday, head coach DoBee Plaisance's squad ranks 32nd in the NCAA with 10.3 steals per game. A trio of Colonels pace the defense as Emani White posts a league-best 2.4 steals average, followed by KK Babin (1.9/4th) and Jenny Nash (1.8/6th).

Despite scoring only 12 points at Northwestern State, White still leads the league in scoring at 18.9 points per game. Nash scored a team-high 15 points at NSU to up her average to 10.3 and Babin added 13 points to move her average to 9.9.

In its first season as a member of the Southland, UNO is still looking for win No. 1 after 22 games. The Privateers, who dropped out of Division I for a few seasons before joining the Southland, have struggled all season with their transition to the league, losing by an average of 34.6 points per game. The Colonels and Privateers met in the teams' Southland openers, and Nicholls came away with an easy 89-40 win in Thibodaux.

In the last matchup at Lakefront on Nov. 13, 2012, Babin was nearly unstoppable for the Colonels as she scored 26 points in their 80-66 win. The win started a three-game winning streak for Nicholls in the all-time series, which UNO leads 22-15.

On Saturday, Nicholls heads to the University Center for a matchup against Southeastern Louisiana. Although the Lady Lions have only six wins on the season, they are 5-5 in Southland play and have a 4-1 record at home.

Over its last four games, Southeastern is averaging over 79 points; however, the Lady Lions have dropped their last two. Last Saturday at Oral Roberts, Southeastern fell 81-78 on a buzzer-beating 3-pointer by the Golden Eagles. All five starters reached double figures for SLU, led by Elizabeth Styles with 19 points.

Styles is one of four Lady Lions to average double figures in scoring for the year. Symone Miller heads the team at 13.9 ppg, followed by Aja Gibson (13.0), Nanna Pool (12.5) and Styles (12.1). As a team, Southeastern ranks seventh in the SLC in scoring (66.4), but is second-to-last in scoring defense (77.7).

Nicholls has a three-game winning streak against the Lady Lions as well, but SLU has a significant lead in the all-time series, 55-17.