February is filled with great events such as Groundhog Day, Valentine’s Day and Black History Month; however, for the Nicholls women’s basketball team, February has been filled with loss after loss. The Nicholls women’s basketball team dropped its third consecutive game since the beginning of February after losing to the McNeese State Cowgirls, 67-51, Saturday afternoon in Stopher Gym.

The Lady Colonels (5-15, 3-6 SLC) dropped to fifth place in the Southland Conference Eastern Division, while McNeese (6-16, 4-4 SLC) moved up to second place in the standings.

Prior to playing the Cowgirls on Saturday, Nicholls suffered back-to-back road losses against Central Arkansas and Lamar.

The Lady Colonels played a close game with the Central Arkansas Sugar Bears, losing by only four points, 73-69; however, in the next game against the Cardinals, the Lady Colonels were dominated, 80-55.

McNeese came into the game fresh off a 72-58 home loss to Southeastern Louisiana University.

In the first half of action, both teams battled back and forth for control of the lead until the Cowgirls went on a 20-7 run to tie the game, 37-27, before going into halftime.

The Cowgirls shot well in the first half, hitting 16 out of 27 shots from the field for a 59 percent average.

The Cowgirls held the Lady Colonels in shooting 10 of 31 shots from the field in the first half for a 32 percent average.

In the second half, Nicholls continued to fall short in offensive production, and McNeese overpowered the team to finalize the 16-point win.

For the rest of the game, McNeese held the Lady Colonels in shooting only 13 percent from beyond the are.

McNeese won the rebounding battle with a 39-28 edge over the Lady Colonels.

Thanks to the Lady Colonels’ excess fouls, McNeese accomplished an astonishing feat in the game by shooting a perfect 100 percent from the charity strike.

The Cowgirls only went to the line twice in the first half and hit both free throw shots. In the second half, McNeese went to the line 16 times and hit every free throw attempt.

It was the first time in McNeese’s school history that the team shot 100 percent in free throws.

Senior point guard Katherine Plummer led the Lady Colonels in scoring 11 points. Plummer also had seven assists and five rebounds.

The Cowgirls had two players with more than 20 points. Junior forward Shante’ Perry had 26 points, and junior guard Courtney Hollins had 23 points in the contest.

The Lady Colonels face an uphill battle in the remaining weeks of February with four road games, all against higher-ranked opponents.

The Achilles heel of the Lady Colonels seems to be the team’s defense against shots from the perimeter.

Nicholls currently ranks last in the conference in three-point percentage defense.

Nicholls will face Texas A&M Corpus Christi today, Texas San Antonio Feb. 16, Southeastern Feb. 23 and Northwestern State Feb. 28.