DoBee Plaisance Postgame Comments THIBODAUX, La. – The Nicholls State University women's basketball team recorded a season-high 20 steals and the offense saw four players reach double figures in scoring as the Colonels picked up their first conference win of the early season with a 70-58 victory over Houston Baptist on Thursday night at Stopher Gym.
Nicholls (5-8, 1-1 SLC), which had a rare loss on its home floor in its last contest in Thibodaux, returned to its dominating ways at Stopher by forcing 26 HBU (6-8, 0-3 SLC) turnovers on defense, while shooting 44 percent from the field - its second highest mark of the season. After taking a 33-31 lead into the locker room, the Colonels never trailed again en route to evening up their conference record.
The offense was fueled by career nights from
Hope Pawlowski and
Shay Arnick as both finished with 15 points. Pawlowski did most of her damage in the first half, scoring 13 points as the teams saw three ties and 10 lead changes in the first 20 minutes. Arnick, who earned her first start of the season, was the star of the second half, scoring 10 points while adding three steals.
Tia Charles chipped in with 10 points and matched her career-best of six steals, which she set in the win over UTSA.
Marina Lilly came off the bench for the first time this season, finishing with 10 points on 4 of 7 from the field.
Arnick opened the game with a 3-pointer and the Colonels led until HBU's Shanice Steenholdt scored on an easy lob inside, making the score 10-8 at the 12:24 mark. Nicholls had trouble stopping Steenholdt in the first half as she racked up 16 of her game-high 20 points. But the Colonel defense helped generate offense in the final two minutes, allowing Nicholls to take a seven-point lead before the break. HBU scored the final five points of the half to trail by two.
The Colonels opened the second period with an 11-2 run, capped on a 3-pointer by
Taylor Morrison. From then on, the game was never in doubt as Nicholls' lead stayed around 10 points the rest of the way. A late 3-ball by the Huskies trimmed the deficit to seven, but the Colonels answered with buckets inside and precise free throw shooting to stifle any threat of a comeback.
Nicholls converted on 18 of 23 at the free throw line, while HBU made all eight of its attempts. The Colonels were 6 of 14 from behind the arc, led by Charles who was 2 of 4.
Although the team shot well and even had an edge in rebounding at 32-28, the squad still struggled with turnovers, finishing with 23. It marked the seventh straight game that the team had at least 20 turnovers.
Nicholls will make the trip to North Texas this weekend to take on Abilene Christian on Sunday, Jan. 11. Tipoff against ACU is scheduled for 2 p.m.
