Final Stats Highlights
Postgame Press Conference

KATY, Texas – The Nicholls State University women's basketball team matched its own tournament record with 14 3-pointers as the Colonels defeated Oral Roberts, 77-66, on Thursday afternoon at the Merrell Center to advance to the second round of the Southland Conference Tournament.

The Colonels (17-13) will take on No. 4 Northwestern State (18-12) on Friday at 11 a.m. The game will broadcast on KNSU 91.5 FM, and a live video stream is available on the Southland Digital Network.

Sophomore Emani White led the 3-point clinic, making 5-of-11 from downtown to pace the Colonels with a game-high 24 points. Senior KK Babin knocked down four 3-pointers, scoring 16 points, junior Jenny Nash had three (15 points) and freshman Taylor Morrison made two (10 points).

Nicholls made 14-of-28 from behind the arc, matching their 3-point effort two seasons ago in its first round 79-59 win over top-seed Central Arkansas. The Colonels made eight in the first half to lead 37-34.

The Colonels started and ended the first period with a 3-pointer, as Babin got things going with a 3-ball. White came through with an old-fashioned 3-point play, and then drained a deep bucket to give Nicholls a 9-0 lead. ORU (9-20) took the lead at 16-15 on its own 9-0 spurt, but the Colonels used an 11-0 run for a 26-16 advantage. The Golden Eagles tied the game at 34 before White sank a 3-pointer with five seconds remaining to send the Colonels into the locker room with the lead.

Babin started the second half with another 3, then ORU answered with three consecutive 3-pointers to take a 45-42 lead. The Golden Eagles made 10 3-pointers in the loss, shooting 44 percent.

Trailing 49-46, Nicholls matched ORU's run by making three consecutive 3-pointers. White tied the game at 49, Babin put Nicholls up 52-49 and White extended the lead to 55-49 with 9:06 to go.

From then on, Nicholls maintained the lead despite ORU cutting the deficit to three on two different occasions. The Colonels tied the 3-point tournament and program record at the 3:05 mark when Babin found White for a 3-pointer which put the score at 69-61. The lead grew to as much as 12 before the Colonels went on to claim their second postseason victory in program history.

Nicholls shot 39 percent from the field and made 17-of-18 from the line. The Colonels recorded 19 assists on 23 field goals, led by seven from White, five from Babin and four from Nash. Nicholls out rebounded ORU 41-35, getting a team-high seven from Shay Arnick.

Christian Key led ORU with 16 points and Kaylan Mayberry finished with 15 as both made four 3-pointers.

Postgame Quotes…
Nicholls coach DoBee Plaisance
"First of all, I would like to give a big congratulations to ORU and their entire staff and their entire women's basketball program. They have been a class act in our conference. They came in here ready to play and it really made for a great spectators game. It was a little too close for our comfort. At the end of the day I am really proud of our players. The ability of these women to consistently battle and persevere makes me proud of each and every one of them. We had tremendous leadership out there today. I am just very proud of our women and how we persevered."

Nicholls guard KK Babin
On looking to be aggressive offensively:
"Like coach said, once you come into the tournament you have to take it to another level. It is my last year, so I will do just about anything to help our team win and achieve our goals of getting this ring. Coach told me that we all had to step up so I knew what I had to do to help us win this game."

On playing alongside Emani White:
"We had to learn how to feed off each other because we both are leaders and we have the ability to influence the team. The hard part was learning how to feed off each other so that we can both help each other be better. As you can tell, I think we have started to mesh in that ability."

Nicholls guard Emani White
On playing alongside KK Babin:
"I think it was very important that we stayed in sync with one another because we are the leaders of this team. We had to make sure that everybody was where they needed to be. We had to just be aggressive at the beginning of the game and set the right tempo."