HOUSTON – The HBU women's basketball team improved to 4-1 in conference play as they downed the Nicholls Colonels 67-58 behind a 24 point performance from Timia Jefferson in Sharp Gym on Saturday afternoon.
 
The Huskies (8-8, 4-1 SLC) and Colonels (3-13, 1-4 SLC) both shot lights out from the field in the first quarter. Julia Vujakovic got the scoring started, knocking down a corner three on the Huskies first possession of the game. The teams traded buckets until the Colonels took a one point lead, 6-5, on a Bryanna Washington made layup. The Huskies responded by going on an 8-2 run, including six points from Jefferson, to stretch their lead to 13-8. Nicholls responded by closing the quarter on a 9-6 run to cut the Husky lead to just two.

The Huskies shot 46.7 percent from the field in the quarter while the Colonels shot 57.1 percent from the floor. HBU was a perfect 4-4 from the line, a trend that would continue for the rest of the game.
 
HBU continued their hot streak in the second quarter, coming out on a 16-2 run with Jefferson and Vujakovic each scoring five points and Kennedy Wilson scoring four. The run stretched the Husky lead to 35-19 with just three minutes left in the half, before the Colonels went on a run of their own. Nicholls refused to quit and closed the quarter out on an 11-0 run to cut the Husky lead to just five heading into the half.
 
Nicholls opened the third quarter making two midrange jump shots, erasing HBU's lead. Abbey Sutherland and Wilson knocked down three pointers for the Huskies before Wilson made an and-one layup to push the Huskies back out in front by eight, 44-36. The teams traded buckets over the last three minutes of the quarter and the Huskies' took their eight point lead into the fourth.

The Huskies used fourth quarter free throws to hold their lead, converting on all eight opportunities they received and closed out the game with a win, 67-58.

After the game, head coach Donna Finnie had this to say about her teams performance: "We are pleased to have another win under our belt, but once again we didn't defend well enough for long enough and I felt like we gave up too many easy paint looks for Nicholls at key times. They did a great job of going at us in the fourth to get the game close again. We have to do better at staying locked in for 40 minutes as we go into a tough couple of games next week."
 
This marks the third consecutive win the Huskies have had over the Colonels, dating back to the 2021 season.
 
For the game, Jefferson led all scorers with 24 points and added in five rebounds and four assists. Wilson added 18 points including being a perfect 9-9 from the charity stripe while also adding five steals and four boards.  Sutherland had 11 points and six rebounds, while Vujakovic had eight points including two made threes.

For the Colonels, Jazmyn Womack had 19 points and five boards while Bryanna Washington fell just short of a double-double with 17 points and seven rebounds.
 
The Huskies will be back on the court Thursday evening when they host Northwestern State at 5 p.m.