HOUSTON, Texas - Coming off its first 20-win campaign and second consecutive appearance in the national postseason, the Nicholls State University women's basketball team gets its 2019-20 campaign underway with a matchup against Rice at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 5 at Tudor Fieldhouse.
GAME INFO
Nicholls (0-0) vs. RV Rice (0-0)
WHEN: Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2018
TIPOFF: 7 p.m. central
LOCATION: Houston, Texas
LIVE STATS: SIDEARM Stats
WATCH: CUSAtv ($)
ABOUT THE COLONELS
For the second year in a row, Nicholls made history and will be looking to keep the trend going in
DoBee Plaisance's 12th season. The Colonels reached 20 wins for the first time in school history in 2018-19, and the win over rival Southeastern Louisiana was also a program-record 14th Southland Conference victory. Nicholls made the postseason for the second-straight year as well, earning a spot in the WBI.
The Colonels return a trio of seniors from last season's 20-win squad, led by sharp-shooting senior guard
Tykeria Williams. In her junior year, Williams came off the bench to his 39 3-pointers and ranked second on the team in scoring at 10.1 points per game. She is joined by guard
Airi Hamilton (9.0 ppg) and post player
Chrystal Ezechukwu (8.5). Hamilton finished last season ranked second in the Southland with a .544 field goal percentage.
Although Nicholls graduated just one starter, it was two-time All-Southland First-Team selection,
Cassidy Barrios. In her 124 career starts at Nicholls, Barrios broke several records and leaves as the all-time leading scorer with 1,993 points which ranks seventh in Southland history.
Nicholls will have another challenging nonconference schedule to prepare for a 20-game Southland slate. The Colonels take on two NCAA Tournament teams from a year ago, Rice and Indiana, and also WNIT participant and 24-game winner TCU -- all in the first three games. The Colonels also head to Baton Rouge to face LSU for the third consecutive year.
ABOUT THE OWLS
Rice is also coming off a record-breaking season that saw the Owls win a program best 28 games. The squad was perfect in Conference USA play with an 16-0 record before going on to win the conference tournament. The Owls made the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2005 but fell in the opening round to Marquette.
The Owls return four starters from last year's championship team, headlined by senior guard Erica Ogwumike. As a junior, Ogwumike was named CUSA Player of the Year after averaging 16.5 points and 10.5 rebounds per game. Also returning is 6-foot-9 center Nancy Mulkey, who averaged 13.9 points and led the NCAA with 3.92 blocks per game.
Rice was perfect at home last season and heads into the opener with a 15-game winning streak in Tudor Fieldhouse. The lone loss at home over the last two years was in March of 2018 against Louisiana Tech. Rice holds a 26-1 record at home since the start of the 2017-18 campaign.
STAY SOCIAL
For more information on Colonels Women's Basketball, follow the team on Twitter (
@Nicholls_WBB).
