HOUSTON –
N'Denasija Collins posted her first double-double of the season but it wasn't enough as the HCU women's basketball team fell to visiting Nicholls, 73-55, on Saturday afternoon in Sharp Gym.
The game stayed close early with neither team gaining more than a two-point advantage up to the point when a
Kennedy Wilson jumper evened the score at 6-6 just over four minutes in. From there, Nicholls (7-7, 1-1 SLC) went on a 12-2 run to jump out to an 18-8 lead at the 3:08 mark. The two teams traded points to close out the quarter with HCU (5-8, 0-2 SLC) trailing 22-12 when the clock hit 0:00.
The second quarter opened with the Colonels out-scoring the Huskies 11-4 in the first three minutes to go ahead by 17, 33-16. The Huskies cut that deficit down to 13 a couple of times as the first half wore on before halftime with Nicholls leading 41-26 at the intermission.
Kyla Hamilton hit a three to start the third quarter and give Nicholls and 18-point lead but the Huskies scored the next seven to cut it back down to 11, 44-33. The Colonels answered with the next five, however, and managed to keep the Huskies at bay the rest of the way. Nicholls led by as many as 21 before HCU pulled to within 11 one more time, 64-53, after a
Tove Caesar three-pointer with the 3:40 remaining to play.
Collins led HCU with season-highs of 23 points and 14 rebounds, shooting 7-of-12 from the floor and 8-of-8 from the foul line.
Kennedy Wilson added 12 points, Caesar had eight off the bench and
Jo Oly had five rebounds. The Huskies finished the game shooting 33.3 percent (18-of-54) from the field but just 15.8 percent (3-of-19) from three and 80 percent (16-of-20) from the charity stripe.
Nicholls was led by Lexi Alexander with 22 points, connecting on 10-of-19 from the floor. Mikayla Etienne finished with 17 points and Hamilton added 12. The Colonels out-rebounded the Huskies by a 39-30 margin.
HCU returns to the road this week, first traveling to Natchitoches, La. to face Northwestern State on Thursday, Jan. 11, before continuing on to Commerce, Texas for a matchup with Texas A&M-Commerce on Saturday, Jan. 13.
