The Nicholls State women’s basketball team upset the top-seed Central Arkansas in the first round of the Southland Conference Championship 79-59 Tuesday night for their first ever post-season victory.

The Colonels also set a program and tournament record for three-point field goals made with 14.

Nicholls head coach DoBee Plaisance said she knew that there was something special about to take place when she watched her team warm up.

“At shoot-around today, I was teary eyed, literally,” Plaisance said. “I’m sitting there watching them through a normal shoot-around, and normally I’m over here, ‘come on y’all, we got to get it. We got to get fired up. What are y’all doing. We’re not talking enough.’ I couldn’t say anything (this time). I’m, like, they got it.”

Sophomore forward LiAnn McCarthy drilled half of those three-pointers, and she led all scorers with 34 points, with 21 of those points coming from behind the arc.

Sophomore guard KK Babin added 10 points, and senior guard Sumar Leslie had a double-double with 10 points and a career-high 13 assists.

Central Arkansas was the 13th-ranked team in the Mid-Major Top 25 Poll, and they trailed the Colonels 39-23 at the half.

The Bearcats would not go down easily though, as they chipped away at the lead in the second half and cut the lead to 42-35 before Babin hit a three to make it a 10-point lead again.

Central Arkansas came back again and reduced the lead to 56-51, but then the Colonels put it away with a 16-2 run. The Colonels only turned the ball over five times, hit 47 percent of their shots from the field and had 24 assists.

The historic night capped off a historic season, as the Colonels set the program record with 15 victories in a single season.

“Something that we say everyday in the huddle is ‘all things are possible through the Lord Jesus Christ,’ and I want to make that perfectly clear that I give all the glory and praise to Him,” Plaisance said.