THIBODAUX, La.  – With sights set on a Southland Conference championship, the Nicholls State University women's basketball team will need to accomplish two things along with protecting its home court - pick up key wins on the road and knock off the top teams in the standings. Wednesday night (Jan. 21), the Colonels have the opportunity to do both.
 
Nicholls (7-9, 3-2 SLC) and conference-leading Northwestern State (10-7, 5-1 SLC) will square off at Prather Coliseum at 6:30 p.m. The game can be followed on the radio airwaves via KNSU 91.5 FM, with audio and live stats links available on geauxcolonels.com.
 
Although the Colonels failed to continue their dominance at Stopher Gym after Saturday's 75-59 loss to Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, they have the golden opportunity to quickly bounce back in the standings by playing the first-place Lady Demons. However, Nicholls historically has struggled versus NSU, which holds a 62-8 record against the Colonels. The Red and Gray have only won twice in Natchitoches, with the last win coming in 2012.
 
Last season, Northwestern State won both matchups, with the first coming at Prather. The Lady Demons scorched the nets to down Nicholls, 76-60, snapping the Colonels' five-game winning streak. After the Colonels won their opening round tournament game against Oral Roberts, the teams matched up in Katy, Texas in the quarterfinals.  NSU had the advantage for most of the game until Emani White's 3-pointer with 1:49 remaining in the game gave Nicholls a 65-63 lead, erasing a late 11-point deficit.  The Lady Demons, however, took back the lead after a free throw and bucket, then added three more from the charity stripe to seal the win. Northwestern State carried that momentum and went on to win two more games to earn the Southland Conference title.
 
The Colonels head into the matchup averaging over 60 points a game and received a boost in their scoring after White returned to the lineup in Saturday's game. White, the league's top scorer last season at 19.6 points per game, played in the first four games this season before suffering a hip injury.  She played 18 minutes in her first game back, finishing with seven points on 3-of-11 shooting. White is averaging a team-high 13.6 points, followed by Jenny Nash at 12.8 ppg.
 
The Lady Demons are led by their point guard as well, junior Janelle Perez. As a team, NSU is averaging over 60 points a game, with Perez scoring a team-high 12.4 points per contest. They have a total of five players averaging eight points or better, including guard Keisha Lee at 11.4 points.
 
After starting the conference slate 5-0, the Lady Demons suffered an 82-72 loss at home against Lamar on Saturday. LU caught fire against NSU, draining 18 3-pointers to tie the conference record. Perez led the team in the loss with 21 points and four assists.
 
Nicholls will continue its road trip with a 2 p.m. matchup at Central Arkansas on Saturday, Jan. 24.