Nicholls women’s basketball team returns home to face Dillard after split on Phoenix trip

The Nicholls women’s basketball team goes into their game against Dillard at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday at Stopher Gym after splitting a pair of games in Phoenix.

After winning the opening game against Eastern Illinois 63-55, Nicholls lost to host Grand Canyon University 63-40.

It was the lowest point total of the season for the Lady Colonels, who shot 28 percent from the field, were 8 of 21 from 3-point distance, 6 of 15 from the three-throw line, and had zero second-chance points.

“One thing we wanted to work on was making sure we didn’t turn the ball over and I thought we did a great job handling their pressure, but we couldn’t find ourselves in terms of offensively – our rhythm on offense. They did a great job of honing in on Lexi (Alexander), showing her two and three bodies every time she caught it. You give credit to Grand Canyon. They did a great job defensively,” said Nicholls coach Justin Payne.

Nicholls faced a team in Grand Canyon, Payne said, that was playing with increased intensity.

“They were trying to get ready,” the Nicholls coach said. “Their next game is conference play, so they were playing with a different edge about them on the defensive end than we had seen on.

“You tip your hats off to them but know going forward you can’t win road games shooting that low of a percentage as well as not making free throws on the road. We thought we got to the free-throw line. We picked up our intensity about getting to the rim and attacking that pressure. We just didn’t shoot it well from the free-throw line. We know we have to fix it.”

Against Eastern Illinois, Nicholls built upon a six-point halftime lead then holding their opponent scoreless for the final 6:40 of the third quarter to come out on top.

“You look at both games and I thought we really played well defensively,” Payne said. “Even with Grand Canyon, they scored 63 points, which is well below their average. We just didn’t shoot it well against Grand Canyon, but I thought our defense has been our strength.

“We are locking up and places that we’re locking up, these kids are following the (scouting report) and I think we could do this on a nightly basis on whoever we play. That third quarter was huge. It gave us the cushion that we needed to be able to finish it out against Eastern Illinois.”

Nicholls (4-3) will host Dillard, a NAIA school that is 1-4 on the season Tuesday.

Jordyn Rowe is the team’s only double-figure scorer, averaging 12 points per game. Lowe Cassidy is the leading rebounder, pulling down an average of 7.2 rebounds per game.

“We want to make sure we take care of us. We’re focusing on us. We need to get better. We need to get better starting (Monday) at practice from what we saw at Grand Canyon,” Payne said. “We did see some bright spots in that game. I put in some players that we wanted to see grow. I thought we saw a lot from Traya Bruce. We were looking to see how she would handle it. She was amazing. One of our bright spots from that Grand Canyon game, so I’m looking for her to continue to build on that and see if we can get a little more depth within our play.

“She actually shows that she can provide that for us. I’m excited about that. I’m excited about us getting back to work, working on our offense, working on our defense again and continuing to box them out because Dillard is going to come after us on the boards. We want to continue to box them out and limit them to one missed-shot opportunities,”

A red-shirt senior from South Lafourche, Bruce scored eight points in 27 minutes for Nicholls.

Following the Dillard game, Nicholls will be back on the road for its next two games. First up is a contest at Alcorn State on Thursday. Alcorn is 0-4 on the year. Among the losses are defeats at the likes of Mississippi State, Nebraska, UNO, and Baylor. Thursday game will be the first at home for Alcorn this season.

Nakia Cheatham leads Alcorn in both scoring and rebounding, averaging 9.3 points and 6.0 rebounds per outing.

“All those were road games against some big, big time competition,” Payne said. “They’re gonna be tough. It’s their first home game. There’s going to be a lot of energy for them.

“We’re going to have to make sure again, we’re staying true to who we are playing the scout us getting making sure that we’re following that. The players are following the scout and then us rebounding and not turning the ball over. That’s going to be huge for us. And then as we said with the Grand Canyon and Eastern Illinois game, we have to make free throws on the road. Again, defending, not turning it over, and making free throws on the road.”

Nicholls will play at South Alabama next Monday.

USA is 4-2 on the season. The Jaguars won their first three of the season before losing to Florida State and Nevada. USA goes into the Nicholls game coming off a 62-53 win at Denver.

Kelsey Thompson is USA’s only double-figure scorer, averaging 12.7 per game. Zena Elias paced the teams in rebounds with an average of 8.5 per game, while also being the team’s second-leading scorer, averaging 9-7 per outing.

Nicholls goes into its home game Tuesday against Dillard after an emotional game against Grand Canyon. That sense of emotion, Payne said, allowed him to realize his team is going in the right direction.

“I just remembered after my first or second year at Georgia Southwestern, that first class that we had brought in, they were emotional after our first semifinal (playoff) loss. I knew then that we’re going to win a championship.

“These kids are starting to hurt now. It hurts them to lose. I just want to let them know that we’re fine. We’re right where we want to be at. We have a quick turnaround. This one (the Grand Canyon loss) has to go out your mind and get ready for Tuesday in front of our home crowd. We need to be able to play with tons of energy and effort and be who we are – and that’s winners.”