THIBODAUX, La. – Coming off its second bye in the last two weeks, the well-rested Nicholls State University women's basketball team will look to cool off a red-hot New Orleans Privateers squad in a Saturday contest in Lakefront Arena.
The game is scheduled for 2 p.m. and the men will follow at 4:15.
Nicholls (12-9, 6-3 SLC) is in the midst of five straight road games where the Colonels are 1-1 so far. The Colonels fell to first-place Lamar but bounced back with an overtime win at Southeastern Louisiana last Saturday. Following the trip to the Crescent City, the Red and Gray will head out to Texas for the week with matchups against Abilene Christian and HBU.
New Orleans (8-12, 4-7 SLC) has won three straight contests with victories at Northwestern State, then home against UIW and another win over NSU. The Privateers are 6-4 at the Lakefront this season and have won three of the last four meetings in New Orleans against the Colonels.
The Colonels enter the game in fourth place in the Southland standings, trailing undefeated Lamar and Stephen F. Austin by three games in the loss column. Lamar and SFA play each other Saturday and Nicholls will have a chance to gain ground on third-place ACU next week. The Colonels were a No. 4 seed in the Southland Tournament last season and the went on to claim the title.
Cassidy Barrios has continued to be one of the NCAA's premier players, scoring 23 points to go along with 16 rebounds, six assists and four blocks in the overtime win at SLU. Barrios has been one of the most versatile players in the SLC, ranking in the top 10 in every major category. She leads the Southland in scoring (20.6) and rebounding (11.1), with both ranking in the top 20 of the NCAA.
Barrios,
Chrystal Ezechukwu (7.5 ppg/5.2 reb.) and
Airi Hamilton (8.4/4.1) are the Colonels' top three rebounders and the trio has helped Nicholls to an impressive showing on the boards in conference. Nicholls has outrebounded its opponents in eight of the nine games, and the only exception was a minus-one differential in the win at Central Arkansas.
UNO has its own scorer/rebounder, senior Shania Woods. The 6-1 center is second to only Barrios in rebounding (8.7) and is seventh in the Southland in scoring at 15.1 ppg. She finished two points shy of her career high in the Privateers' last outing, scoring 29 to knock off the Lady Demons on Wednesday.
Nicholls swept the season series last year against UNO and is 7-3 against the Privateers since they began Southland play in 2014.
TICKET INFO
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