NEW ORLEANS – After a sloppy first half which saw a combined 34 turnovers, the Nicholls State University women's basketball team held New Orleans without a field goal for nearly 14 minutes to build a nine-point lead early in the fourth quarter, but the Privateers turned the tables and outscored the Colonels 19-5 over the final six minutes to hand Nicholls a 62-55 loss on Wednesday night at Lakefront Arena.
 
The loss dropped Nicholls to 6-12 overall and 4-4 in the Southland. New Orleans has won two straight over the Colonels, improving to 6-11 and 3-5.
 
Nicholls looked well on its way to getting head coach DoBee Plaisance her record-tying victory in front of her hometown after the Colonels outscored UNO 19-9 in the third. But the visitors went ice cold in the fourth, connecting on just 4-of-19 from the field while the Privateers made 8-of-11.
 
Trailing 29-26 at the half, the Colonels smothered UNO in the third, holding them to just nine free throws and 0-10 from the field. Nicholls grabbed a seven-point advantage with less than a minute to go as Tia Charles found Airi Hamilton for a layup to make the score 45-38.
 
UNO ended its drought with a jumper at the 8:43 mark by Randi Brown, who finished with a game-high 28 points. Brown hit a 3-pointer to cut the deficit to 47-43, and after Cassidy Barrios answered with a 3-ball, Brown came back and hit another one to spark UNO's late surge.
 
Brown tied the game at 50 with a layup and Alexis Martin put the home team up 52-50 with a basket at the 4:26 mark. Marina Lilly tied it up for Nicholls with a bucket inside, but UNO's Halie Matthews rattled home a jumper to regain the lead.
 
In the final two minutes, Brown  swished a 3-pointer to give UNO a five-point edge, and Charles kept Nicholls alive by answering with her own 3-pointer with 1:05 to go. But that would be the last points for the Colonels as UNO sank 5-of-6 free throws to close out the win.
 
LiAnn McCarthy scored all of her team-high nine points in the first half, but played just 26 minutes after fouling out early in the fourth. Lilly, Barrios, Charles and Hope Pawlowski all scored eight points, while Hamilton finished with seven. Lilly collected a team-high nine rebounds.
 
Nicholls shot just 30 percent from the field, 6-of-21 from 3-point range and had 24 turnovers. UNO finished at 38 percent for the game and had turned the ball over 27 times.
 
Nicholls will return to action on Saturday, Jan. 30 at Incarnate Word. Tipoff in San Antonio is scheduled for 2 p.m.