A 12-point halftime deficit proved too much for the Lady Colonel basketball team to overcome in a 62-52 Southland Conference loss to Southeastern Louisiana University Saturday night in Stopher Gym.
During the first half, SLU relied on strong inside play to take a 36-24 halftime advantage.
“It was difficult to match-up with their speed on the low post and on the perimeter, but give Southeastern some credit. They are a veteran team with some junior college transfers and it was difficult for us to match-up against them,” Lady Colonel head coach Louise “Do” Bonin said.
“We can’t be a good defensive team if we’re going to allow the ball into the post,” Bonin said. “Anytime a team gets the ball into the post it breaks down your defense.”
In the second half the Lady Colonels switched from a man-to-man defense, which they ran in the first half, to a zone and was able to cut the SLU lead to one twice in the second half, but could never take the lead.
“We saw a lot of man-to-man in the first half, and when Nicholls switched to almost an exclusive zone in the second half, it kind of threw us off,” SLU head coach Frank Schneider said. “We really struggled against that zone.”
Nicholls first cut the Lady Lion lead to one at 44-43 on a jumper by Tiffany Nearing with 8:06 left in the game, and again at 46-45 when Katie Schreiter connected on a shot a minute later.
But Turner, who finished the night with a game-high 23 points, sealed the win when she hit a 3-pointer at the 3:36 mark of the second half to give SLU a 55-48 lead.
“Stacey (Turner) is starting to get her confidence back after a slow start, and her play has really carried us in our last three or four ball games,” Schneider said.
The win upped SLU’s overall record to 6-9 and 4-4 in the SLC, while Nicholls fell to 3-11 on the year and 1-6 in conference play.
Over the first 11 minutes of the game, SLU jumped out to a 20-9 advantage on a pair of free throws by Turner. Nicholls would then go on to score six straight points on a jumpers by Nearing, Dana Kelley and Mandy Broussard to cut the Lady Lion lead to 20-15 at the 7:25 mark of the first half.
But for the remainder of the first half SLU would outscore the Lady Colonels 16-5 to take the 12-point halftime advantage.
For SLU the only other player in double-digits besides Turner was Ann Webster, who scored 10 points.
Nearing led the Lady Colonels with 14 points, while Kelley added 11. Heidi Broussard and Katie Schreiter also chipped in with 10 each.
The Lady Colonels will return to action tonight in Huntsville, Texas, when they face Sam Houston State in a SLC contest scheduled for 7 p.m.
Season recap
The Lady Colonels opened their season in New Orleans on Nov. 17 with a 73-54 loss to Tulane.
On Nov. 20 Nicholls fell to Samford 64-52 in Birmingham, Ala.
Nov. 24-25 saw the Lady Colonels take part in the New Mexico Tournament and Nicholls dropped games to the host team and Cal-Northridge.
On Nov. 29, Louisiana Tech posted a 90-47 win over the Lady Colonels in Ruston.
Nicholls then returned to Thibodaux for a pair of SLC games.
On Dec. 16 Nicholls lost to the University of Louisiana at Monroe 73-70, before falling to Northwestern State 89-77 two days later.
The Lady Colonels picked up their first win of the year with a 78-75 victory over Bethune-Cookman in the Houma-Terrebonne Civic Center on Dec. 18.
Nicholls followed with a pair of SLC road losses to Stephen F. Austin and Texas-Arlington respectively.
The Lady Colonels would then go on to win two-of-three games.
On Jan. 4, Nicholls ousted SLC foe Southwest Texas State 66-47 in Thibodaux, before losing to Texas-San Antonio 57-45 to close out the two-game conference homestand.
Prior to Saturday’s loss to SLU, Nicholls downed Centenary 87-59 on Jan. 9 in Shreveport.