THIBODAUX, La. – After seeing their seven-game winning streak snapped, the Nicholls State University women's basketball team will look to keep their championship hopes alive as the Colonels take on New Orleans Thursday night at Lakefront Arena.
Tipoff between Nicholls (14-11, 10-4 SLC) and New Orleans (4-19, 2-12 SLC) is scheduled for 7 p.m. KNSU 91.5 FM will have a live broadcast, with coverage set to begin 10 minutes prior to tip.
Nicholls had a chance to move into first place last Saturday at Stephen F. Austin, but the Colonels were unable to hold on to an early second-half lead as SFA put an end to their winning streak. The loss dropped Nicholls to two games behind SFA and a game back of Lamar. They are currently in third place, two games ahead of McNeese State, Northwestern State and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. The top two seeds will earn two byes in the Southland Conference Tournament while seeds 3 and 4 will have one bye.
In order to keep pace, Nicholls will have to defeat a dangerous New Orleans team. Despite their record, the Privateers have won two of their last five games and almost completed a second-half comeback at Central Arkansas during that span. The Colonels took the previous matchup against New Orleans, 56-40, on Jan. 29 in Thibodaux.
In conference play, Nicholls is fourth in the league in scoring at 67.1 points per game and ranks third in scoring defense, allowing 59.1 points. During their recent winning streak, teams were only averaging 54.7 points against the Colonels which included three games of 40 points or less.
Jenny Nash leads the team in scoring (14.2 ppg) and rebounding (6.2) and has developed into the Southland's most lethal 3-point shooter. Nash not only ranks first in the SLC in 3-pointers made with 71, but she has the best 3-point percentage of any player with a league-best 41.4 percent. In conference games, she is making 48.4 percent from behind the arc and averages 3.2 3-pointers made per game.
Joining Nash in double figures is junior guard
Emani White, who is averaging 10.9 points for the season. Since coming off the bench after her injury, White is playing over 21 minutes per contest and averages 9.1 points. Freshman
Tia Charles is third on the team in scoring at 8.9 points and leads the team with 60 steals.
New Orleans is coming off a 75-63 loss at home to Northwestern State last Saturday. Randi Brown scored 22 points in the loss and Halie Matthews added 16. Brown leads the team in scoring with 10.3 points per game and has reached double figures in five straight contests. The Colonels did a great job containing Brown in the first matchup, holding her to three points on 1 of 10 shooting.
New Orleans leads the all-time series against Nicholls, 22-17, but the Colonels have won the last five meetings. Last season at Lakefront, Nicholls limited UNO to just 15 points in the first half as the Colonels cruised to a 63-45 win.
