WOMEN’S BASKETBALL: Colonels secure bye with 79-64 win at Southeastern Louisiana

THIBODAUX, La. – The Nicholls State University women’s basketball team received 22-point efforts from Tia Charles and Cassidy Barrios as the Colonels locked up the No. 4 seed in next week’s Southland Conference Tournament with a 79-64 victory over Southeastern Louisiana Saturday at the University Center.

Winners of eight of their last nine, the Colonels will receive a bye as the four-seed and will play Friday at 11 a.m., taking on the winner of the No. 5 vs. No. 8 game. It marks the program’s seventh-consecutive appearance in the SLC Tournament. The victory gave Nicholls a 16-13 overall record and 11-7 in the Southland. The win total was the fourth-highest in team history.

Charles reached her season-high with 22 points on 8-of-17 shooting and added three assists and three steals. With Nicholls up just one at the break, 32-31, Barrios scored 16 of her 22 in the second half to help the Colonels pull away as she recorded her Southland-best 15th double-double with a game-high 14 rebounds.

In the second half, Nicholls held SLU (8-21, 7-11 SLC) to 30 percent from the field and closed out the day with a 43-34 advantage on the boards. It marked the fourth-straight game that Nicholls outrebounded its opponent, with all four occasions resulting in wins.

A 13-1 run to close out the third turned out to be the difference in the game. With SLU leading 43-39 midway through, four straight free throws by Barrios evened the score before Destiny Collins hit one of her two 3-pointers in the game. SLU ended the drought with a free throw, but Charles scored four points and Barrios scored inside for a 52-44 lead heading into the fourth.

In the final quarter, two free throws by Barrios at the eight-minute mark gave Nicholls a 60-50 lead, and it stayed double figures the rest of the way. Nicholls made 9 of 11 from the floor and hit all eight free throw attempts in the period. The Colonels shot 48 percent from the field and hit 34 of 41 at the free throw line for the game.

UP NEXT

The Colonels will head to Katy, Texas next week for the Southland Conference Tournament. Conference tournament tickets are on sale now through the Nicholls Ticket Office. All tournament and sessions tickets can be purchased through the Nicholls Ticket Office for $70. This will include a ticket to every session of the tournament including men’s and women’s games. Individual session/game tickets can be purchased for $20 per session as well. All tickets sold through the Nicholls Ticket Office will be general admission seating in the Nicholls section or other GA sections in the arena. Please call the Nicholls Ticket Office at 985-448-4790, email at corey.neal@nicholls.edu, or visit http://nicholls.universitytickets.com/user_pages/category.asp?id=73 to purchase online.