Frustration starts early for Nicholls women’s team in 70-44 loss at Lamar

The opening of the second half signaled the type of frustrating afternoon it was for the Nicholls women’s basketball team Saturday afternoon against Lamar in Beaumont.

After a Jacei Denley 3-pointer 18 seconds into the second half extended Lamar’s lead to 15 points, Lexi Alexander was called for a flagrant foul against Akasha Davis.

The dominant Lamar post player hit two free throws and the Lady Cardinals retained possession of the ball. After a Lamar miss, the Lady Cardinals came up with an offensive rebound.

Sabria Dean hit a jumper and was fouled. Dean hit her free throw and the five-point trip put Nicholls in a 43-23 hole.

Davis again scored on an inside basket and a 10-point run by Lamar put the Lady Cardinals up by 22 points with 8:02 remaining in the third quarter and from that point on, it was just a matter of the final score.

The 70-44 defeat snapped a three-game winning streak for Nicholls as the Lady Colonels fell to 5-6 in the Southland Conference and 11-12 overall.

Lamar improved to 10-1 in the SLC and 16-5 overall.

The frustration for the Lady Colonels began early.

Nicholls fell behind 14-0 before getting its first points of the game on a jumper by Mikayla Etienne 3:51 into the game.

The Lady Colonels rallied back, trailing 16-9 after one quarter.

Trailing 20-11, Nicholls went on a 9-2 run to pull to within two points at 22-20 by the 5:38 mark of the second quarter.

Kyla Hamilton opened the run with a 3-pointer, and Etienne added a three-point play. After a basket by Davis, Britiya Curtis hit a 3-pointer and Nicholls was down by a mere two points.

Curtis’ 3-pointer would be the final points scored by Nicholls until a 3-pointer by Etienne with 50 seconds left in the half.

In between, Lamar scored the next eleven points to rebuild its lead to 13 points. Five of the points came from Davis, who finished the first half with a double-double by scoring 13 points and pulling down 11rebounds.

After Etienne’s shot to snap a scoring drought of 4:28, Denley pulled up in the lane for a short jumper to give Lamar a 35-23 halftime lead.

Nicholls had no answer for Davis. She finished with 17 points and 16 rebounds in her 31 minutes of action. Denley had 16 points, Dean 11, and R’Mani Taylor 10.

Alexander, with 16 points, was the only double-figure scorer for Nicholls. She also topped the team with seven rebounds.

Lamar had 30 points in the paint, compared to 16 for Nicholls. The Lady Cardinals also enjoyed a 21-9 advantage in points off of turnovers.

Nicholls hit on only 14 of 49 shots (28.6 percent) from the field, including 4 of 13 (30.8 percent) from 3-point range. Lamar connected on 23 of 51 shots (45.1 percent) from the field, including 5 of 23 (21.7 percent from distance).

The 44 points by the Lady Colonels represented their second-lowest game total of the season. Nicholls managed only 40 points in a 63-40 loss against Grand Canyon.

Taking advantage of an early turnover and a shot-clock violation by Nicholls, Lamar hit on its first five shots of the game, including two from 3-point range, to run off to its 14-0 lead.

Nicholls didn’t get its first points until Mikayla Etienne hit a jumper at the 6:09 mark of the first quarter. At that point, the Lady Colonels were 1 of 7 from the field.

A pair of baskets by Lexi Alexander inched Nicholls closer at 14-6.

Violette Skipworth hit a 3-pointer with 48 seconds left in the period, allowing Nicholls to trail 16-9 after one quarter.

After Lamar stretched its 35-23 lead to 45-23 with its 10-point run to open the second half, Nicholls went on to score only nine points the remainder of the third quarter to trail 59-32 heading into the fourth quarter. As of the final two minutes left in the third quarter, Nicholls was 2 of 12 from the field in the period.

When Lamar’s Malay McQueen hit a 3-pointer with seven seconds left in the third quarter to make the score 59-32, the 27-point spread represented the Lady Cardinals’ biggest to that point in the game.

Lamar’s biggest lead of the game was 28 points in the fourth quarter. Nicholls never got closer than 24 points the remainder of the contest.