Nicholls women face UNO team it lost to twice to open play in Southland tourney

If the Nicholls women’s basketball team is to win its first Southland Conference postseason tournament game under first-year coach Justin Payne, the Lady Colonels will have to do so against a team it has not beaten this season.

Nicholls (13-17), the No. 7 seed, will take on the No. 6 seed University of New Orleans at 1:30 p.m. Monday in the opening round of the SLC tournament in Lake Charles.

UNO (11-18) defeated Nicholls twice, but by close margins. The Privateers won 69-63 in the first matchup in Thibodaux, and edged Nicholls 80-78 in New Orleans

In the first meeting in Thibodaux. the Lady Colonels never trailed by more than six in the second half and the teams’ traded points for much of the fourth quarter until two free throws by Brianna Ellis and a three-point play by Nahja Scott gave the Privateers their biggest lead of the game at nine points, 59-50, with 4:37 remaining in the game.

The Lady Colonels quickly responded on a 3-pointer by Deonna Brister and a basket by Brister while driving to the lane to pull Nicholls to within 59-55.

UNO’s Nora Francois committed a charge on the next possession, giving Nicholls a chance to cut further into the lead but the Lady Colonels failed to score. The Privateers made it a seven-point game on an Alexis Calderon 3-pointer.

Kyla Hamilton answered with a 3-pointer with 1:50 left in the game but UNO hit free throws down the stretch, connecting on 10 of 13 in the fourth quarter to hand Nicholls the 69-63 loss.

In the rematch in New Orleans, Nicholls trailed most of the game until a 3-pointer by Mikayla Etienne capped a seven-point run to give the Lady Colonels a one-point edge at 74-73 with 1:10 left in the game.

Nicholls was trailing by one point to open the second half when Etienne scored on a layup to put her team on top 50-49 only 20 seconds into the third quarter.

The lead lasted 21 seconds when UNO’s DeArica Pryor answered with a 3-pointer.

Pryor’s basket gave the Privateers a lead they would hold for most of the second half until Etienne’s third 3-pointer gave Nicholls its 74-73 lead.

Pryor answered again 26 seconds later, and UNO was on top 75-74 with 40 seconds left in the game.

Lexi Alexander was fouled with 21.1 seconds left when driving to the basket. She hit both free throws to put Nicholls on top 76-75.

Kimbrough answered seven seconds later with a 3-pointer that gave the Privateers a 78-76 edge.

In foul trouble much of the game, Alexander picked up her fourth foul. Zoe Cooper hit two free throws to extend the UNO lead to 80-76.

Alexander scored off an offensive rebound at the buzzer as Nicholls suffered the two-point defeat.

Pryor leads the Southland in 3-point percentage, knocking down 42.9 percent of her shots on the season. She ranks fourth in the conference in scoring at 15.2 per outing.

Francois is second on the team in scoring at 12 points per game and is 10th in the SLC in rebounding, pulling down 6.9 rebounds per game. Kimbrough is the team’s other double-figure scorer at 10.9 per outing.

UNO (11-18) is averaging 65.4 points per game while allowing 66.8.

Alexander leads Nicholls in scoring and rebounding. She is fifth in the conference in scoring at 14.6 per game, and eighth in rebounding at 7.2 per contest.

Hamilton is third in the SLC in 3-point percentage at 42.4 and eighth in field goal percentage at 44.9.

Brister is fifth in field goal percentage at 46.7, while Britiya Curtis is sixth in 3-point accuracy at 36.5 percent.

The winner of the game will take on Southeastern Louisiana at 1:30 p.m. Tuesday.