Nicholls women’s basketball team opens SLC play hosting defending league champs

The start of the new year also means the beginning of Southland Conference play for the Nicholls women’s basketball team.

At 6-6 in league play, Nicholls has won one game more than it did all of last season. What that portends for the Lady Colonels in the SLC remains to be seen.

“We didn’t know where we could really be at with this squad, but I just love the progression that these kids are making every day,” first-year coach Justin Payne said. “They’re working hard. We continue to get better and better and it’s eventually showing on the win loss record.

“I’m pleased. I’m not satisfied. We want to continue to get better and better, and we’re trying to do something that’s never been done before. We’re trying to go from worst to first.”

The Lady Colonels will find out quickly how they measure up. Nicholls, which finished last in the Southland a year ago, opens SLC play against Southeastern Louisiana, the defending conference champion.

The game is slated for 6:30 p.m. Thursday at Stopher Gym in Thibodaux. Nicholls plays its first conference road game of the season two days later when the Lady Colonels travel to Houston Christian.

If the Lady Colonels are to be a serious threat I the SLC, Payne said, his team will need to continue to improve defensively.

“Defensively, we’re still working on it day-to-day – hands up, tracing the basketball, doing the things that we want to do, jump into the basketball,” he said “Making sure our rotations and our cover downs are on point, and that takes time. But if we can get it down pat, then we know that travels.

“You know you could be off one night, but your defense and your heart, you can take that with you anywhere. That needs to be on every night. Those are things that we’re continuing to build on – the boxing out piece, executing late on our baseline out of bounds and our sideline out of bounds.”

The Lady Lions (4-7) enter the game on a four-game losing streak, falling to the likes of Kansas, South Alabama, Oregon State, and Tulsa.

SLU, which is averaging 61 points per game, has one double-figure scorer in Hailey Giaratano, who is averaging 13-2 points per game. She also is second on the team in rebounds, averaging 4.8 per contest.

Cheyanne Daniels, at 6-foot-3, paces the team in rebounding, averaging 4.9 per contest, and is second in scoring with 9.8 points per outing. Taylor Bell is third in both categories, averaging 9.1 points and 4.3 rebounds.

The strength of the Lady Lions is their defense, according to Payne. SLU is allowing only 56.4 points per game.

“I just want to see where we’re at. I like our chances at home. They are a really, really good ball club. They are unbelievable defensively and we got our work cut out for us on offense,” said Payne. “If we’re going to have some success, we have to really be on point. It’s probably the best defensive team we’ve seen all year.

“We saw what Grambling did to us (in a 69-50 loss) and some other teams, how they turned us over, and I really think this is probably the best defensive ball club that we’re going to face.”

The teams have one common opponent. Nicholls defeated Southern of New Orleans 94-52, while Southeastern dominated SUNO 90-30. The games were four days apart back in November.

Nicholls counters with a pair of double-figure scorers in Lexi Alexander and Britiya Curtis. Alexander is averaging 12.8 points per game and also tops the team with 5.5 rebounds per contest. Curtis is averaging 10.3 points per game.

Houston Christian goes into the week 5-6 overall. The Huskies open Southland Conference play Wednesday at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.

Of HCU’s losses, five have come on the road against the likes of Rice, Virginia Tech, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, Wichita State, and Kansas.

The Huskies, who are averaging 56 points per game, have one double-figure scorer in N’Denasija Collins, who is averaging 13.8 points per game. She also leads the team in rebounding at 5.9 boards per outing.

“They’re going to be tough going inside. They like to go inside. We’re going to have to do our work, making sure that we’re limiting (Collins’) touches and keeping them off the boards. We got a box out and rebound,” Payne explained.

But first things first.

We’re definitely focused on Southeastern right now. We won’t look too far ahead. We got the defending champs coming in here. They need all of our attention,” Payne said.