On a night when Katie Schreiter reached a personal milestone, the Lady Colonel basketball team took a step closer to a team goal. In Nicholls’ 78-54 win over McNeese State Saturday night, Schreiter became the seventh Lady Colonel to score 1,000 points. More important, Nicholls jumped into eighth place in the Southland Conference standings.

If the team can maintain the eighth-place spot until the end of the regular season, it will reach one of its goals and be eligible for the SLC Tournament.

“The win got us back in the top eight in the conference, and that is where we need to be,” Schreiter said.

Lady Colonel head coach Louise “Do” Bonin also talked about the significance of the win.

“Getting a win like this gives us more control of our own destiny when we have to get back on the road,” Bonin said.

With the win, Nicholls improved to 5-13 overall and 3-8 in the SLC.

After going down 3-0 to start the game, Nicholls went on a 14-0 run over the next five minutes to take a 14-3 lead at the 14:34 mark of the first half.

McNeese then cut the Lady Colonel lead to 14-9, only to see Nicholls counter by scoring six straight points, with a pair of free throws by Schreiter and a pair of jumpers by Mandy Broussard and Anika Holmes.

This put Nicholls ahead 20-9 with 4:31 left in the opening half.

Each team scored six more points in the first half and Nicholls led 26-15 at halftime.

To open the second half, Schreiter scored the first five points on a pair of free throws and a 3-pointer to put Nicholls up 31-15 with 18:54 left in the contest.

Schreiter, a native of Lockport and a graduate of Central Lafourche High School, connected on a 3-pointer at the 15:53 mark of the second half to put her over the 1,000 point plateau.

The game was stopped to recognize the accomplishment.

“It’s a great thing to see a local player in our program reach 1,000 points,” Bonin said. “It was a great night for Nicholls State women’s basketball.”

After Schreiter’s 3-pointer, Nicholls held a 44-21 advantage and would cruise to the 24-point win.

“We played good team basketball. This team is developing the confidence they were lacking early in the season that we need to win,” Bonin said.

Schreiter led all players with 18 points and Dana Kelly added 16 in the win. Tiffany Nearing tallied nine points, while Mandy Broussard and Holmes chipped in eight each.

The Lady Colonels return to action tonight in Stopher Gym when they face SLC opponent Texas-Arlington at 7 p.m.