Anna Giroir
January 15, 2007Check It Out!
January 17, 2007
Four players found double figures as Nicholls downed visiting Texas State 82-67 in Southland Conference men’s basketball action held at Stopher Gym on Saturday. Junior Adonis Gray led the Colonels with 22 points, while seniors Stefan Blaszczynski and James Dixon each dished in 15 points and redshirt freshman Mitch Boyce came away with 14 points.
Behind by just three at 40-37 heading into the second half, Nicholls (3-15, 2-2 SLC) saw Texas State’s (7-10, 2-2) lead bulge to as many as seven on a made three-point jumper by Brandon Bush at the 12:06 mark of the second half. The Colonels answered by going on a 11-4 run to tie the game at 59 with 8:00 remaining in the contest. Following a media timeout, the Colonels offense exploded by going on an 18-3 run in a five-minute period to put the game out of reach, 77-62 with just 2:02 remaining in the contest.
Texas State’s Chris Agwumaro led the Bobcats with 13 points while Matt Fullenwider added 12 points.
“I’m really proud of the way we competed today,” Colonels head coach J.P. Piper said. “We came out and played as a team and it showed during the final seven minutes of the contest. This was a huge win for us. We have a lot more games ahead of us, but I believe this will be a huge confidence boost for our team.”
The Colonels dominated the boards by a 45-25 advantage, but committed 22 turnovers compared to 18 coughed up by the Bobcats. Nicholls shot 59.6 percent from the field and 14.3 percent from the three-point line while Texas State stroked it at a 37.9 percent clip from the field and 27.3 percent from the three-point line. Nicholls shot 75.8 percent from the foul line while Texas State only made eight of their 18 charity stripe attempts for a 44.4 percent showing.
Last Thursday, the Colonels beat Texas-Arlington in overtime, 83-81. Blaszczynski tied his season high with 27 points and added eight assists and seven rebounds. Gray added 16 points and Bathie had 13.
Nicholls returns to action next Saturday night, Jan. 20 when it travels to Hammond, La., to take on Southeastern Louisiana at 7 p.m.
Lady Colonels drop back-to-back games, fall to 1-3 in Southland Conference play
The Texas State Bobcats team used a 15-3 second half run that started midway through the second half to defeat the Nicholls Lady Colonels, 72-64, Saturday evening at Strahan Coliseum.
Nicholls finished with three players in double figures, including a game-high 23 points from Jamie Octave. Claire Barry added 18 while Katherine Plummer chipped in 12 points.
Joyce Ekworomadu scored 18 points as four Bobcats reached double figures. Aimee Hilburn and Marie Moser added 11 points while Erica Putnam netted 10.
Both teams finished the game shooting 41 percent from the field. Texas State (10-7, 3-1 SLC) shot 40 percent from the three-point line, while Nicholls (3-12, 1-3) could only net 2-of-12 (17 percent) from beyond the arc. The Bobcats out rebounded the Lady Colonels, 50-31.
The Lady Colonels hung tough for most of the game, outscoring Texas State 9-2 over the last 4:19 of the first half to go into halftime down by only two at 31-29.
After being down 31-29 to open the second half, a Plummer three-pointer with 15:21 showing on the clock, gave Nicholls a 40-39 lead. The teams then stayed close over the next six minutes as neither team gained more than a two-point advantage.
The Bobcats then took control for good when Ekworomadu and Putnam combined to score 13 points during the team’s 15-3 run, which lasted 5:49 until Octave hit a three-pointer to make it 63-57 Bobcats with 4:47 on the clock.
Ashley Leffingwell answered Octave with a three of her own two possessions later to put the Bobcats back up by nine, and the Lady Colonels would get no closer than seven points over the final four minutes.
Last Thursday, the Lady Colonels lost 87-36 to Texas-Arlington. Octave led Nicholls, scoring half of their point total, with 18.
Nicholls returns to Stopher Gymnasium on Saturday, as Lady Colonels host in-state rival, Southeastern Louisiana at 2 p.m.
Colonel sprinter sets school records
Junior sprinter Katrina Carter set two school records as the Nicholls track and field team participated in the Purple Tiger Indoor Track and Field Classic at Carl Maddox Fieldhouse.
Carter broke the record in the 60-meter dash, after recording a time of 7.76, which placed her 14th overall. The record, which was previously 7.98, had been held by Trionne Burrell since 1999. Carter also set a new school record in the 200-meter dash, with a time of 25.89. This eclipsed the school record of 26.91, which was also set by Burrell in 1999.
Other Colonels placed their names in the Nicholls record books. Rahjanaye Bailey (10.01, 22nd), Jarina Guilbeau (10.29, 24th), Aly’ce Peters (10.39, 25th) and Sabrina Henkes (10.55, 26th) moved into second, third, fourth and seventh places, respectively, in the 60-meter hurdles, while Chelsea Dockrey moved into second place in the high jump, after her jump of 5-00.50 tied her for a sixth place finish.
Other finishers for Nicholls included LaTasha Bishop (400-meter run, 1:04.29, seventh), Nicoya Hutcherson (400-meter run, 1:05.62, 10th), Eunice Jepkogei (3000-meter run, 11:41.96, 14th), Keri Fremin (Pole Vault, 9-06.25, 15th) and the 4X400-meter relay team of Hutcherson, Dominique Harris, Peters and Guilbeau (4:23.72, 15th).
The Colonels will return Friday when they participate in the Leonard Hilton Invite in Houston.
Photo by STEVE FRANZ/LSU * Junior Adonis Gray scored 22 points and grabbed seven rebounds to help lead the Colonel to an 82-67 victory over the Texas State Bobcats in Stophey Gym on Saturday.
