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KATY, Texas – For the second straight postseason, the Nicholls State University women's basketball team was eliminated in the Southland Conference Tournament by rival Northwestern State as the Lady Demons scorched the nets by shooting 60 percent from the field to pull off a second-round 84-67 upset over the Colonels at the Leonard E. Merrell Center on Friday.
 
Nicholls, which had a bye in the first round as the No. 3 seed, finished the season with a 17-13 record. The 17 wins ties the second most in for a single season in program history and the team's 13 Southland victories surpassed the previous mark by two games. Nicholls also extended its program records with three consecutive winning seasons and four straight postseason appearances.
 
The win improved No. 6 seed Northwestern State's record to 17-14 and the Lady Demons, who have now won five consecutive games at the Merrell Center dating back to last year's championship run, will play No. 2 seed Lamar on Saturday.
 
Senior Jenny Nash led the Colonels in the loss with 18 points and seven rebounds. Entering the game with a league-high 79 3-pointers, Nash connected on 5 of 11 from behind the arc to break the Colonels' single-season record of 81, set by KK Babin in 2012. All of Nash's points were 3-point related as she added three free throws after being fouled on a 3-point attempt. As a team, Nicholls hit 10 from long range, but the Colonels shot just 29 percent from the field.
 
Nash gave Nicholls its only lead of the game after hitting a 3-pointer on the Colonels' first possession. The Lady Demons came out and hit their first six field goals to grab a 15-8 lead after five minutes. NSU finished the half shooting 16 of 27 to lead 38-31 at the break.  Nicholls was able to tie the game three times in the opening period, but NSU never relinquished the lead. The Colonels made seven 3-pointers in the half, including two from Veronica Ryan, to keep the deficit in single digits.
 
NSU did not cool off in the second half, making 14 of 24. Nicholls trailed 42-35 after Marina Lilly, who was the only other Colonel to reach double figures with 10 points, made a pair of free throws at the 16:29 mark. But the Lady Demons put together a huge run over the next four minutes, outscoring the Colonels 13-2 to push its advantage to 55-37.
 
Lilly then scored five straight points to bring Nicholls within 13 with 10 minutes remaining, but it would be as close as the Colonels would get for the rest of the game.
 
For the Colonels, freshman Ekiya Gray had nine points and eight rebounds, while classmate Tia Charles finished with eight points and five assists. Nicholls, which averaged 20.1 turnovers this season, had only 10 in the loss and tallied 23 offensive rebounds which led to a 28-3 advantage in second chance points.
 
NSU had four players score in double figures, led by Janelle Perez with 24 points. Chelsea Rogers had 16 points and Keisha Lee added 15.
 
Postgame Quotes
 
Head Coach DoBee Plaisance
Opening statement…
"Hats off to Northwestern State. They came out with a one-two punch. We were a little slow getting the ball rolling. I'm so proud of the women. We did fight back and make some strides towards the end. I'm really proud of the way we battled down the stretch. We could have folded, but we didn't."
 
On Nicholls' shooting…
"[Not finishing around the basket] disrupted our flow and our execution. Offensively, it threw our focus a little off kilter because you don't want to miss. These kids were playing hard. On the defensive end, we did get a little overzealous at times. We had too much coverage in some areas, and that made it hard to recover."
 
Senior Guard Jenny Nash
On Northwestern State's start…
"Northwestern State came out really strong and hot, but I don't think it fazed us that much. We just had to do what we could do and unfortunately, we didn't do that and that stopped our momentum. It gave them a bigger push."
 
Senior Center Shay Arnick
On rebounding…
"We were trying to correct our offense off of offensive rebounds. We figured that would help us get momentum and we couldn't throw it in the ocean today. We tried and it wasn't our night."