Nicholls women’s basketball team falls in regular-season finale heading into SLC tourney

The Nicholls women’s basketball team wiped away what had been as much as a 15-point deficit, but Southeastern Louisiana went to scoring three points at a time during a key stretch of the fourth quarter to hand the Lady Colonels a 68-62 loss Thursday night in Hammond.

Nicholls closed the regular season 7-11 in the Southland Conference and 13-17 overall heading into the league tournament that begins Sunday in Lake Charles. Southeastern Louisiana moved to 14-4 in the Southland and 18-11 overall.

The score was tied 46-46 when SLU started scoring three points each trip down the count and it didn’t matter to the Lady Lions in what fashion in which they came.

Back-to-back 3-pointers by Daija Harvey were answered by a Kyla Hamilton 3-pointer.

The Lady Lions scored the next nine points. Allasia Washington hit a 3-pointer before Hailey Giaratano scored three points on two consecutive trips the traditional route by hitting a free throw after being fouled while scoring basket. That gave SLU a 61-51 lead.

An inside basket by Cheyanne Daniels with 3:01 left in the game rebuilt the Southeastern Louisiana lead back to 12 points at 63-51.

Nicholls managed to close to within five points on two Lexi Alexander free throws with 1:39 left in the game before SLU held on to take the 68-62 win.

Alexander, a sophomore, finished with 20 points and nine rebounds. Hamilton, the senior point guard, closed out her regular-season career with 14 points, including hitting 4 of 7 from 3-point range.

Giaratano had a game-high 25 points to go along with seven rebounds. Daniels finished with 15 points.

Nicholls ended up shooting 23 of 60 (38.3 percent) from the field, including 8 of 24 (33 percent) from 3-point range. SLU was 24 of 51 (47.1 percent) from the field, and 7 of 20 (35 percent) from 3-point distance.

After a poor-shooting first half, Nicholls got hot from the field in the third quarter, turning what had been a five-point halftime deficit into a lead of as much as six points in the period.

Through the first eight minutes of the third quarter, the Lady Colonels hit 7 of 10 shots from the field to take the lead.

A driving layup by Alexander gave Nicholls its first lead of the game at 36-34 at the 4:56 mark of the third quarter. The Lady Colonels built a lead of as many as six points when Hamilton hit a 3-pointer to make the score 43-37 as Nicholls went on to take 46-43 lead heading into the fourth quarter.

SLU scored the first eight points of the game on 3-pointers by Arriana Patton and Giarantano, and a basket in the lane by Giarantano.

Nicholls immediately responded, scoring seven consecutive points of its own on a 3-pointer by Deonna Brister and two baskets by Alexander as the Lady Lions held an 8-7 lead.

After a basket by SLU’s Daniels, the Lady Colonels were guilty of a shot-clock violation. Taylor Bell scored on a driving layup, giving the Lady Lions a 17-11 lead at the end of one quarter.

The Lady Colonels went the final 2:18 of the first quarter until the 8:02 mark of the second quarter without scoring until a jumper by Alexander left Nicholls trailing 22-13.

SLU went on to build its biggest lead of the half at 15 points on a jumper by Jalencia Pierre, along with a pair of free throws each by Daniels and Giarantano, to make the score 38-15 with 6:51 remaining in the second quarter.

Poor shooting plagued the Lady Colonels in the second quarter, who hit only 5 of 17 shots from the field (29.4) to fall behind by double digits but came roaring back late in the first half.

Two Daniels free throws made it 30-16, but the Lady Lions became shy shooting the ball.

SLU attempted only seven shots in the second quarter and went the final 6:12 of the half without scoring, allowing Nicholls to get back in the game.

Nicholls scored the final nine points of the half.

Brister knocked down a jumper and hit two free throws. After Kyla Hamilton connected on a 3-pointer, Britiya Curtis hit a jumper with 40 seconds left in the half to pull Nicholls to within 30-25 at the break.