THIBODAUX, La. – Riding a four-game winning streak, the Nicholls State University women's basketball will look to stay in contention for a Southland Championship, but the Colonels will have to do so on the road as Nicholls will play its next four games away from Stopher Gym, starting Thursday, Feb. 5 at 6 p.m. against preseason favorite Stephen F. Austin.

Following a date with the Ladyjacks (12-9, 6-3), Nicholls will take on Northwestern State (12-9, 5-4) on Saturday, Feb. 7 at 1 p.m. Both games can be listened to live on KNSU 91.5 FM.

After giving up 82 points on the road at Lamar, the Colonel defense has stepped up, limiting the opposition to 60 points per game, which is seven points below their season average. In Nicholls' 69-60 victory over first-place Central Arkansas, the Colonels held UCA to 19 points in the second half on 30 percent shooting.

The second-half comeback was sparked by sophomore Emani White, who scored 21 of her game-high 23 points after the break. White was nearly unguardable, going 5 of 9 from the field while drawing foul-after-foul and converting all 10 of her free throw attempts. It was White's ninth game of scoring 20 or more points this season and the sophomore has been the Southland's leading scorer for virtually the entire season, averaging 18.7 points per game.

Nationally, the Colonels rank in the top 35 of the NCAA in three categories - 19th in fouls per game (15.9), 25th in turnover margin (plus-4.5) and 34th in steals per game (10.2)  - all which have contributed mightily to the team's recent success. During the four-game winning streak, Nicholls has 25 fewer fouls than its opponents, shot 41 more free throws, recorded 21 more steals and has finished with 29 fewer turnovers.

SFA heads into the matchup on a two-game winning streak after defeating Abilene Christian and Incarnate Word by 20 points last week. The Ladyjacks have been solid in front of their home crowd, posting an 8-2 record at Johnson Coliseum. Their losses came to Stetson, who defeated Nicholls earlier in the year, and SMU.

The Ladyjacks are one of the best teams in the league in scoring, on both offense and defense. SFA is just head of Nicholls (68.4 ppg) in points per game (69.0), ranking third in the SLC, and posts the second best scoring defense at 63.4 ppg.

SFA had three players scoring in double figures, led by its junior center Porsha Roberts. A first-team preseason All-Southland honoree, Roberts is averaging 15.1 points, 7.4 rebounds and has 46 blocks on the season. Brittany Matthew is second in scoring at 12.2 and Daylyn Harris is next with 10.1 points.
Northwestern State will take on McNeese Thursday night before hosting the Colonels in Prather Coliseum, where the Colonels have had little success. Including Nicholls' win at NSU in the 2011-12 season, the Colonels have only won twice on the road in the all-time series. The Lady Demons have defended their home court this season, posting an 8-1 record.

NSU also swept its two games last week, knocking off ACU and IWU by six and four points, respectively. The Lady Demons used a balanced attack on offense in the wins, having a combined nine players score in double figures. Keisha Lee leads NSU in scoring at 15.1 ppg. and Trudy Armstead is second at 14.2.