Photo by: Jailen Leach/Nicholls Athletics

Lexi Alexander drives the ball against Tulane. (11/8/23)

After a win over Southern University New Orleans on Friday, coach Justin Payne promised that he would bring a championship to Thibodaux, La to a near full home crowd.

Payne said that the commitment and promise to win a championship comes from his belief in the team he built.

“I believe in myself and I believe in the young women in this locker room,” Payne said. “The goal is to win championships. We’re not coming here to be mediocre or average. We’re here to win a championship.”

Nicholls women’s basketball is off to its best start in program history with three wins to open the season, including one at an in-state foe in Tulane. The win over Tulane was the program’s first over the New Orleans opponent.

Nicholls has its eyes set on another American Conference team in SMU.

Nicholls travels to Dallas to take on SMU on Tuesday.

SMU is 2-0 with dominant wins over UC Riverside and Alabama State University.

SMU beat Riverside 78-55 and Alabama State 96-47.

In its win against Alabama State, SMU had five players in double-digit points and seven players over eight points.

SMU forward Amirah Abdur-Rahim, sister of ex-NBA player Shareef Abdur-Rahim who averaged 18.1 points per game in his NBA career, secured her first career double-double with 18 points and 11 rebounds against Alabama State.

Nicholls has its own dominant post player in forward Lexi Alexander who won the Southland Conference Freshman of the Year last season.

Alexander opened the season against The North American University with a 19-point, 11-rebound double-double and came just two rebounds short of the feat against Tulane with 17 points and 8 assists while playing all 40 minutes.

Playing a full game of basketball can be exhausting for most players, but Alexander pushes through for her teammates.

“To keep [myself] going I have to do it for my teammates,” Alexander said. “It’s more of a mental thing and less of a physical thing.”

Playing an 11 a.m. game against SUNO on Friday, Nicholls feels that it’s ready for the 11 a.m. tip in Dallas.

“[An] 11 a.m. game is always special. We made sure we would have them ready to play,” Payne said. “We don’t take any opponents lightly, we practice that every day. Kudos to our girls, they’re ready to play whoever we play.”

Nicholls’ game against SMU is set to start at 11 a.m. ESPN+ will broadcast the game from Dallas.