Women’s basketball team closes out home slate against UIW, Commerce

Having clinched a spot in the Southland Conference’s postseason tournament, the Nicholls women’s basketball team closes out the home portion of the schedule with a pair of games this week.

Nicholls is slated to face the University of Incarnate Word at 6:30 p.m. Thursday and Texas A&M-Commerce at 1 p.m. Saturday before the home folks for the final time this season.

“It’s always good to be back at home,” Nicholls coach Justin Payne said. “I love the way we’re playing at home right now. The support that we’ve been getting from our fan base, from the student body, in the community, we want them to continue to come out these next two games and see this squad. The squad has continued to progress and it’s crazy that we’re down to the last two because they’re continuing to get better and better and better. I’m enjoying coaching them and we’re getting ready for the tournament, so every possession matters.”

Nicholls enters its game against UIW 6-7 in the Southland and 12-13 overall. Incarnate Word is 8-5 in the league and 15-9 overall.

The first time the teams met in San Antonio, Nicholls needed all of Deonna Brister’s career-high 19 points and Britiya Curtis’ 18-point effort in a 65-59.

The duo provided timely scoring as Curtis scored 10 points in the opening quarter to stake Nicholls to a 22-14 lead after one quarter on the way to a 29-28 edge at halftime.

After UIW hit the first basket of the second half to take the lead, Brister took over in the third quarter. She scored 10 points in the quarter, enabling Nicholls to lead 48-40 after three quarters on the way to the win.

“Tabby (Curtis) started off the game hot and on fire. Deonna kind of closed it out,” said Payne. “They need to continue to play great. They have been playing great and they just need to continue their style of play. We’ve got some other people that are stepping up now and we need to continue to play that way if we’re going to beat Incarnate Word. They’re a tough team. They only lost five games in conference for a reason. They’re a tough group.”

“They play a little bit bigger at the three, four, five (two forwards and center positions) and you have to kind and match up with that,” Payne continued. “It’s gonna be interesting and I look forward to see how we step up to the challenge. I’m happy we’re at home. It was a tough game up there.”

UIW is fourth in the Southland in scoring offense and fifth in defense. The Cardinals are averaging 66.2 points per game and allowing 66.5 points per outing. They are fifth in field goal percentage at 39.3 percent, and fourth in 3-point percentage at 29.6 percent.

Aliyah Collins is sixth in the SLC in scoring, averaging 14.2 points per game, and eighth in 3-point percentage at 36.5 percent.

Nina De Leon Negron, the only other double-figure scorer for UIW at 11.8 points, is fourth in the conference in rebounding, pulling down 8.5 rebounds per contest.

“She’s a beast. She just continues to go after it,” Payne said. “She was a reigning player of the week this week. She helped them win a big game versus Northwestern State. She closed them out and she had big-time offensive rebounds. She just keeps going. She’s like an Energizer Bunny. She just keeps going and going and going.”

Lexi Alexander leads Nicholls in scoring at 13.9 points per contest to rank eighth in the Southland and paces the team in rebounding with 6.2 rebounds per game. Kyla Hamilton is averaging 10.9 points, Mikayla Etienne 10.8 points, and Curtis 10.3.

Hamilton is second in the SLC in 3-point percentage, knocking down 44.2 percent of her shots. Curtis is fifth at 39.2 percent. Brister is seventh in field goal percentage at 47.7 percent and Hamilton eighth in the league at 47.3 percent.

In its final home game of the season on Saturday, Nicholls will take on a Texas A&M-Commerce team that entered the week 6-8 in the SLC and 11-13 overall.

The first time the teams met, Nicholls simply could not score in the opening minutes of the fourth quarter, leading to a 71-67 loss.

The Lady Colonels managed only one basket in the opening 6:55 of the fourth quarter, turning what had been a 56-52 lead entering the period into a deficit of seven points at 65-58.

Nicholls’ inability to score came with the Lions going on a 13-2 run.

“We’ve got to try and slow them down a little bit better. I wasn’t pleased with our defense up there,” said Payne. “They’re a great offensive team and they play fast. I thought we had some miscues up there. We weren’t locked in. We knew who could score and they were wide open. We couldn’t find them quick and often, and they made us pay.

“We look forward to that game again and making sure our defensive game plan is on point and making sure we know exactly where to be and who can hurt us.”

Commerce’s Mia Deck leads the Southland in scoring, averaging 17.8 points per game.

“She’s playing at a high level, scoring it from all three levels. We’ve just got to do a great job slowing her down. She’s looking for hers. She can fill it up and she’s done it against every team, and we got to look to slow it down. She’s a great player. She uses her body so well to get to the rim and to get the shots that you don’t think that she can get to,” Payne said.

Jordyn Newsome and Mary Delgado each are averaging 13.5 points per outing for the Lions, and Ahmya Boyce 12.8 points.

Deck is ninth in the SLC in 3-point percentage, knocking down 35.4 percent of her shots, and Boyce is 10th at 35.3 percent.

Jordyn Beaty is sixth in the league in rebounds, averaging 7.5 per outing, and Olivia Russell is seventh at 7.1.

Now that Nicholls has secured a spot in the conference’s postseason tournament, the stretch drive, Payne said, will be about positioning.

“Whoever is playing their best toward the end of the season always has a chance to win that tournament. We just want to make sure we’re playing our best ball at the right time. We’re going to focus on one possession at a time, continuing to get better and better, and let’s see if we can jump up in the seeding and then continue to play our best ball and see what we can do in this tournament,” the Nicholls coach said.