Tournament Page LUBBOCK, Texas – The Nicholls State University women's basketball team will play its final three games before the holiday break in the Athletes in Action Tournament, starting Friday night against host Texas Tech at United Supermarkets Arena at 5:30 p.m.
Nicholls (3-4) will square off against the Red Raiders (6-2) for the second time in program history, before taking on Houston (3-5) on Saturday before closing out the weekend Sunday against Texas-San Antonio (4-3). Live stats for all games are available on texastech.com.
The Colonels will be looking to avoid their first losing streak of the season as they have alternated wins and losses after seven games. Nicholls fell at Louisiana Tech on Monday, and despite a better showing in the second half, was never able to make a serious threat after trailing by as much as 26 points.
Nicholls is still adjusting on offense since point guard and leading scorer
Emani White has been sidelined with an injury. In the three games without White, the Colonels averaged 22 turnovers a game, including a season-high 24 at LA Tech.
While senior
Jenny Nash has been the most consistent player for the Colonels by leading the team in rebounds (7.7), assists (3.1), steals (1.7) and blocks (9) while averaging 12.6 points per game, freshman
Ekiya Gray put together her best performance of the season in the loss at LA Tech. Gray has started the last five games and against the Lady Techsters, scored 14 points on 5-of-7 from the field and added five rebounds and two steals.
In the only meeting against Texas Tech two seasons ago, the Lady Raiders had little trouble defeating the Colonels, helped by an early 13-0 run. Tech went on to win the game, 78-48, snapping Nicholls' five-game winning streak.
Under second-year head coach Candi Whitaker, the Lady Raiders are off to a 6-2 start and have yet to lose at home this season with a perfect 6-0 mark. Texas Tech played Southland Conference member Abilene Christian on Dec. 3, picking up a 61-44 win, and won its last outing with a 50-42 victory over UTPA.
Saturday's opponent, Houston, enters the weekend on a two-game losing streak, falling to Prairie View A&M and Texas A&M. The Cougars have played two Southland opponents, dropping a 50-48 to Incarnate Word before defeating Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, 68-66. Nicholls and Houston have only squared off one time before, with UH winning 83-62 back in 1980.
In Sunday's game, the Colonels will meet a familiar opponent in UTSA, who left the Southland three seasons ago. UTSA leads the all-time series 27-12, but the Colonels won the last meeting, 68-62, in 2012 in Thibodaux. Former Colonel Sumar Leslie led team, scoring 29 points with eight assists and six rebounds.
Following this weekend's action, Nicholls will have a week off for the holidays before hosting Southern Miss on Monday, Dec. 29, in the squad's 2014 finale.
