THIBODAUX, La. – The Nicholls State University women's basketball team will host the University of New Orleans (Jan. 11) and Lamar University (Jan. 13) inside Stopher Gym. The action will be streamed via ESPN+.
 
Despite the Colonels have losing the last three meetings with the Privateers, the Red & Gray still lead the series 15-10 dating back to 2007. In the same time span, the Colonels trail in the series with the Cardinals 16-8 as the teams split last season's matchups.
 
NICHOLLS BENCH (7-7, 1-1 SLC)
 
Last week, the Colonels began Southland Conference play, falling to Southeastern before earning head coach Justin Payne's first league victory of his career at HCU.
 
The Nicholls offense is a balanced attack that saw three individuals average double figures in the first two SLC games. Sophomore forward Lexi Alexander averaged 19 points and 3.5 rebounds and assists, including 22 points on 10 made field goals in the win over the Huskies. She now has the fifth best scoring average and eighth best rebounding average in the SLC.
 
Senior guard Mikayla Etienne had an impressive conference debut weekend averaging 16.5 points and 5.5 rebounds, while shooting 50 percent (13-26) from the field and hitting five shots from beyond the arc. Her classmate Kyla Hamilton scored 12 points and three steals against the Lady Lions and Huskies and shot 50 percent (8-16) from the field and 42.9 percent from long range.
 
The Red & Gray have an efficient offense and stout defense. As a unit they shoot 40.2 percent from the field while holding teams to under 40 percent and have the second-best steals per game average (9.43) in the SLC.
 
NEW ORLEANS BENCH (4-9, 1-1 SLC)
 
The Privateers also split their first two conference games with a loss to Southeastern and a win over Texas A&M-Commerce.
 
UNO's offense features two double figure scorers. Jayla Kimbrough and DeArica Pryor averages 10 and 11.5 points, respectively. Zoe Cooper leads the team in rebounds with 5.2 per contest while Alexis Calderon paces the offense with 2.3 assists.
 
The Privateers are one of three teams in the SLC that average below 60 points per game (58) and have a negative scoring margin (11.9).
 
LAMAR BENCH (8-4, 2-0 SLC)
 
The Cardinals are three conference teams to go unbeaten last week as they took down UIW and Northwestern State by 17 apiece. Sabria Dean and Akasha Davis shoulder the load for the Lamar offense.
 
Dean, the current SLC Player of the Week averages 16.3 points and 4.4 rebounds while shooting 46.3 percent from the field. She earned the award for two 29-point games where she shot 60.5 percent from the field.
 
Davis scores 14.2 a game while shooting a league best 61 percent from the field and is the only player in the SLC averaging over eight boards a game. The Cardinals are one of four teams in the league that score at least 65 points (65.3) and hold teams to under 60 points (58.1).