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KATY, Texas – The Nicholls State University women's basketball team will begin postseason play Thursday morning as the No. 5 Colonels take on eighth-seeded Oral Roberts at the Merrell Center at 11 a.m.

Nicholls (16-13, 11-7) will be making its third consecutive tournament appearance, and sixth overall. The Colonels have a 1-5 record all-time in the Southland Tournament, with their lone win coming in 2012 as they defeated top-seed Central Arkansas, 79-59.

The Colonels are coming off a disappointing loss in their season finale at Texas A&M-Corpus, where they let a 19-point lead in the second half slip away. After leading the league in turnover margin for most of the season, Nicholls gave up the ball 23 times, with 15 in the second half.

Sophomore Emani White scored 20 points in the loss and heads into the postseason as the league's top scorer at 19.5 points per game. White, who also led the SLC in steals (2.2), garnered first-team All-Southland and All-Defense. Senior KK Babin (10.1 ppg/4.3 assists) joined White on the all-conference team, being named third-team for the second time in her career. Junior Jenny Nash rounds out the leading scorers with 10.7 points while ranking second in the Southland in 3-point percentage 39.9 percent.

Oral Roberts (9-19, 8-10) heads to Katy on a two-game losing streak after falling on the road to Northwestern State and Stephen F. Austin.  The Golden Eagles have yet to win a road game this season, posting a 0-16 record. One of the losses came in Thibodaux as Nicholls defeated ORU 71-60 behind a career-high 15 points and nine rebounds by freshman Taylor Morrison.

Leading ORU is third-team All-Southland guard Christian Key. Key heads the team with 14 points per game and 3.1 assists. She had only seven points in the previous matchup, but Kaylan Mayberry paced ORU with 17. Mayberry is the only other Golden Eagle averaging double figures on the year at 10.4 ppg.

The game will be broadcast live on KNSU 91.5 FM, with pregame coverage scheduled to start 15 minutes prior to tipoff. A live video stream will also be available on the Southland Digital Network.