Nicholls women’s team clinches spot in SLC tournament with win over McNeese

The final score of 81-67 looked like the Nicholls women’s basketball team took care of business as it should have against a McNeese State team that was winless in Southland Conference play.

In reality, the Cowgirls gave Nicholls all it could handle and then some before the Lady Colonels pulled away late.

When Carla Rosini scored on a layup in the opening minute of the fourth quarter, the game was tied 57-57.

“I was just preaching to our girls, even though we were up 18 in the first half, they are not going away. They will fight and claw their way back in the game. You will have to really beat them. They have been playing really, really hard. We knew we were going to take some of their best punches,” Nicholls coach Justin Payne said.

With Nicholls leading 59-58, the Lady Colonels went on a 10-0 run in slightly more than two minutes to build an 11-point lead and McNeese State never seriously threatened from that point.

The scoring spree began with a 3-pointer by Britiya Curtis. Moments later, Curtis hit another shot from distance, this one from the opposite left wing to stretch the Nicholls lead to 67-60.

“Coach (Payne) – his words – ‘stop being soft, initiate the contact and take over the game,’” Curtis said. “That’s what I was looking to do then. I got the job done.”

“We saw some matchups during the game that we wanted to exploit and on those two occasions, we went right to them. Thankfully, it worked. Tabby (Curtis), she’s got the tough job, putting the ball in the hole, and she did that,” said Payne.

Deonna Brister, playing aggressively on both ends of the court, produced a basket and a layup off an assist by Lexi Alexander gave Nicholls a 71-60 lead with 4:01 left in the game.

“I was so proud of them. Deonna was everywhere. They were getting rebounds. Tabby was hitting shots. Everybody was doing their job, and we took the lead and we kept it. That’s what we’ve been wanting to do,” Hamilton said.

“She was amazing,” Payne said of Brister. “They scored 12 in the fourth quarter, most of that was Deonna Brister. Daelyn Craig, and Lexi Alexander as well, we go to that big lineup, our defense really bolsters.”

The shooting of Curtis and Brister could not have come at a better time.

Nicholls once led by as much as eight points in the third quarter before McNeese came back to tie the game 55-55 heading into the fourth quarter.

The McNeese rally came after Nicholls guard Kyla Hamilton was forced to the bench in foul trouble. Hamilton, who had scored 17 points in the first half, picked up three fouls in the third quarter. The fourth foul sent her to the bench with 4:05 remaining in the third quarter.

“I definitely felt bad,” said Hamilton. “I felt like I hurt my team, but I was going to cheer my team on the bench and make sure I was the loudest one, making sure I was talking to them. They did their job and they kept it up.”

“We’re a good team. In the fall, would we have been able to sub Kyla and still hang around, I don’t know,” said Payne. “Now this team has grown so much. Tabby is so good. At the point guard, she was really, really great. We’re a good team right now.

With Hamilton out of the game, McNeese rallied late in the quarter. An inside basket by Mireia Yespes, three Yespes free throws and a layup by Azjah Reeves gave the Cowgirls a 55-53 lead.

Curtis hit two free throws in the closing seconds for the 55-55 tie heading into the fourth quarter.

Nicholls moved to 6-7 in the Southland, clinching a spot in the conference’s postseason tournament for the first time in three years. The Lady Colonels are now 12-13 overall.

“We started working when we came in here. We knew we would do some special things. Didn’t know how fast it would be. Credit to these kids. They have really taken the mantra, ‘earned, not given.’ They are earning every bit of it.

McNeese dropped to 0-13 in the SLC and 4-22 overall.

Curtis led all scorers with 21 points. Hamilton finished with 19, Mikayla Etienne with 16, and Lexi Alexander 15. Alexander also had 14 rebounds.

Yespes led McNeese with 18 points. Reeves added 15, while Emilia Tenbrock and Julia Puente Valverde added 10 each. Yespes and Tenbrock each had six rebounds.

Hamilton provided the scoring punch for Nicholls, scoring 17 points in the first half to lead the Lady Colonels to a halftime lead of 39-35.

“I knew we had to come out with energy. I know they’re 0-and-whatever they are right now, but they are a good team. I knew we had to put them away. That’s what I was trying to do in the beginning,” said Hamilton.

Hamilton connected on layup and 3-pointer to give Nicholls an early 5-3 advantage.

Nicholls built a lead of as many as six points in the opening quarter. A Rosini layup allowed McNeese to pull to within 17-13 heading into the second quarter.

The Lady Colonel lead climbed above double digits for the first time when Hamilton connected on a 3-pointer for a 28-17 lead with 6:59 remaining before halftime. At that point, Hamilton scored 15 of Nicholls’ 28 points.

Nicholls’ lead reached as much as 18 points at 35-17 with a layup by Alexander at the 5:54 mark of the second quarter.

McNeese made a furious rally the remainder of the second quarter, outscoring Nicholls 18-4 to pull to within 39-35 at the break.

The Cowgirls’ run was triggered by six-straight points by Yespes, making the score 39-33 with 1:08 left in the half on the way to Nicholls leading by only by four points at halftime.