The Nicholls State University women’s basketball team did everything right in the third quarter to cut a 12-point halftime deficit to one possession, but they failed to fully get over the hump as the Stephen F. Austin Lady Jacks pulled away midway through the fourth quarter to secure the 86-73 win Wednesday night in Southland Conference women’s basketball action in Stopher Gymnasium.
The Colonels (6-8 overall, 1-2 in Southland Conference) had five players reach double figures but it still was not enough to overcome the Lady Jacks, who shot 52.6 percent from the field.
“We cut it to a one possession game several times with our runs but we just couldn’t take the lead,” Nicholls head coach DoBee Plaisance said. “I have to complement our girls, we are playing one of the best teams in the league and we score 26 points on 19 turnovers. I felt like when we went on those runs and cut it to one possession, we needed to do better to continue to do what got us to that point.”
The Colonels opened things up with an early lead as a pair of buckets by Marian Lilly (11 points) and a trey by Tykeria Williams gave Nicholls an early 7-3 lead.
Stephen F. Austin (10-3 overall, 2-0 Southland Conference) then turned up the pressure on the Colonels, going on a 9-0 run led by five points from Chanell Hayes (25 total) to take a 12-7 lead.
In the final minutes of the first quarter, a 3-pointer by Paige Williams followed by a bucket by Airi Hamilton, allowed Nicholls to pull within two, 16-14, before a 4-0 run to close out the quarter capped off by a basket from Marissa Banfield put the Lady Jacks on top 20-14 entering the second quarter.
Stephen F. Austin opened the second quarter on a 5-0 run sparked by a trey from Hayes to take a 25-14 lead before a free throw by Lilly and a bucket by Tykeria Williams (18 points) cut the Lady Jacks lead to 25-16.
The Lady Jacks used a run of 4-0 capped up by a bucket by Stevi Parker (eight points total) and a run of 8-0, sparked by treys from Imani Johnson (16 points) and Riley Harvey (nine points), to eventually carry a 43-31 lead into the break.
Nicholls came out of the locker room with new life as they cut the double digit Lady Jacks lead down to one possession.
After both teams traded a series of buckets, the Colonels used a 5-0 run following sparked by a 3-pointer from Cassidy Barrios (12 points) and a bucket from Tia Charles (18 points) to counter a 4-0 Stephen F. Austin run right before.
A pair of Barrios free throws and a trey from Tykeria Williams pulled the Colonels within nine, 60-51, before a 7-0 run to close the third quarter, led by five points from Charles, pulled Nicholls within three at 62-59 to close the third quarter.
Lady Jacks head coach Mark Kellogg said he was not surprised Nicholls made a run, as it seems to be a recurring theme when they travel to Stopher.
“These are the kinds of games we get every time we come here,” Kellogg said. “(Nicholls is) a scrappy scrappy group and we knew it coming into this game. I thought we made some careless passes in the third quarter that probably would have gapped that lead a little bit. I was proud of my kids, we never let them take the lead and we were able to extend it and hold them off. That was our first true road win of the year.”
Nicholls opened the fourth quarter with a bucket by Charles to pull within one, 62-61, before a layup by Harvey put the Lady Jacks up 64-61.
A Lilly bucket at the 6:49 mark pulled the Colonels within one again, 64-63 before Stephen F. Austin went on to out-score Nicholls 22-10 in the final five minutes to secure the 86-73 win.
While she is never satisfied with a loss, Plaisance hopes to use the early part of the conference slate as a teaching tool to her young team.
“Our assist-to-turnover ratio is not where we want it to be,” the coach said. “We held them to eight second chance points. It’s early and we do some really great things. We are just a very young team. It’s not like the ship is sinking. Our first eight games of the conference are tough and if we weather this storm we will grow together.”
In addition to scoring 12 points, Barrios added 10 rebounds and nine assists to just miss the triple-double while Destiny Collins also scored in double figures (10 points).
The Lady Jacks held the edge in rebounds, 38-29, and also outscored Nicholls in the paint 44-28.