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Video THIBODAUX, La. - The Nicholls State University women's basketball team will take on Incarnate Word for the first game of a home-and-home against the Cardinals, starting with a 2 p.m. matchup on Saturday in San Antonio at the McDermott Center.
The Colonels (6-12, 4-4 SLC) had won three straight, including wins in Texas at Sam Houston and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, but dropped their last two to fall to .500 in league play. UIW (5-13, 2-5 SLC) has also dropped its last two, coming off a 57-56 loss at home to A&M-Corpus Christi.
Nicholls has won all three matchups against UIW, including the back-to-back meetings in last season's schedule. The Colonels won 67-34 in San Antonio before returning home to pick up a 69-58 victory. Nicholls hosts UIW on Wednesday, Feb. 3 at 6 p.m.
With a win, head coach
DoBee Plaisance would tie the program's record for all-time wins, held by Ben Abadie with 89. Plaisance holds every other coaching record at Nicholls – single-season victories (19), conference wins in a season (13), postseason appearances (4), winning seasons (3) and longest winning streak (7).
Plaisance had a chance to tie the mark on Wednesday in her hometown of New Orleans, but for the second time in conference play, the Colonels let their lead slip away in the final five minutes of the game. At UNO, Nicholls held the Privateers without a field goal for the entire third quarter before being outscored by New Orleans, 24-10, in the final period.
The Colonels' offense went into a funk after leading scorer,
LiAnn McCarthy (12.4 ppg), fouled out early in the fourth quarter. Nicholls held a 47-40 advantage when she departed the contest and scored just eight points the rest of the way. For the game, the Colonels shot just 30.5 percent from the field which was the team's second lowest output for the season.
UIW's losing skid has come at home in a 15-point loss to conference front-runner Abilene Christian and a one-point setback to Corpus Christi. The Cardinals were down 15 to the Islanders in the fourth quarter but managed to tie the game with a minute to go, but a free throw by the visitors down the stretch proved to be the difference.
Aricka Adams heads the UIW offense with 13.2 points per game, while Brianna Williams is averaging 12.9 points. As a team, the Cardinals are averaging 57.1 points on the season and 60.3 in league play, which is good for 10th. Nicholls is averaging 66.1 points in eight Southland games, ranking fifth.
