KATY, Texas – The Nicholls State University women's basketball team will make its 13th appearance all-time in the Southland Conference Tournament and 10th straight as the No. 6 seed Colonels take on No. 7 Abilene Christian at 2 p.m. on Thursday in the Merrell Center.
With the field expanded to 10 teams, Nicholls (10-13) earned a bye into the second round after finishing 9-7 in league play. Abilene Christian (14-9) eliminated UIW on Wednesday, 81-70, and will face the Colonels for the first time in the postseason.
Nicholls claimed its 10th win on the season with its thrilling come-from-behind victory against McNeese in the final last Wednesday. The Colonels enter the postseason winners of three of their last four outings. Before the previous two tournaments, Nicholls reeled off seven straight wins to close out the regular season.
DoBee Plaisance's squad is led by sophomore
Chelsea Cain, who was named All-Southland First Team on Tuesday. Cain emerged as one of the league's elite scorer/rebounder, averaging 16.8 points and 8.3 boards. The Prairieville native's numbers were even more impressive in conference, increasing to 18.0 points and 9.3 rebounds.
Anna McKendree also averaged double figures in scoring in conference with 12.5 points per game. She was red-hot behind the arc, sinking 28 of 64 3-pointers for a 43.8 percent clip. McKendree averaged 3.0 steals in the 16 Southland games and had a career-high eight at Northwestern State.
ACU lost four games in a row at the tail end of the season before taking down UIW in the regular season finale. The two teams matched up again in the first round of the tournament with Abilene advancing behind Anna McLeod's 28 points.
McLeod was an All-SLC honoree after averaging 14.5 points in league play. Alyssa Adams also made All-SLC average posting 14.2 points and a league best 9.6 rebounds in conference games.
The teams have only met a total of seven times, with the first coming in 2014. In the 2018-19 matchup, Abilene hit a late 3-pointer to force overtime and went on to cruise to an 11-point victory to improve to 5-2 all-time against the Colonels.
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