The Alabama State women's basketball team fell to Nicholls State 57-46 Thursday night in the Dunn-Oliver Acadome.
Turnovers doomed Alabama State (1-5) in the final 20 minutes, as the Lady Hornets committed 16 of their 26 turnovers after halftime.
There were five ties and five lead changes in the first 10+ minutes of the second half. Alabama State took their final lead of the game at 36-34 with just under 11:30 remaining on a jumper by
Durriya Shields.
From there, the Lady Hornets were outscored 23-10 in the final stretch of the game. Alabama State committed 12 of its second-half turnovers during that time, as the Lady Hornets' turnovers led to 29 Nicholls State points.
Nakiya Smith scored a game high 18 points to lead Alabama State, while
Quentori Alford had a double-double with 11 points and a game and season-high 15 rebounds.
“The game didn't go as planned,” head coach
Freda Freeman-Jackson said. “I thought this was a team we should have been able to beat in our place. I thought we did a terrible job in the second half after holding them to 20 points in the first half. They scored more than 30 points in the second half, and we didn't do a good job of containing them. Their forwards did a really good job and were active, and we played too sluggish. They played physical, and we didn't play tough and aggressive. That's one of the things I feel we've been struggling with. I feel we have the personnel, but we don't have that toughness right now.”
There were three times and three lead changes in the first half. After falling behind 2-0, a 10-0 run by Alabama State gave the Lady Hornets the largest lead of the game at 10-2 with under 14 minutes to play in the first half. Alford came off the bench and made an immediate impact, scoring five consecutive points and pulling down four rebounds during the spurt.
Nicholls State (7-2) chipped away at the deficit and, after took its second lead of the game at 19-18 on a pair of free throws by Alisha Allen. Following the third tie of the half at 20-20, a three-pointer by
Nakiya Smith just before halftime gave Alabama State a 23-20 halftime lead.
Both teams came out aggressively in the second half, as neither team led by more than three points. Allen gave the Colonels the lead for good on a jumper with just over nine minutes remaining, sparking a game-deciding 13-3 run that gave Nicholls State 48-39 lead with 3:55 to play in the contest.
Alabama State begins a two-game road trip Sunday at Mercer and Tuesday at Savannah State before returning home to host the University of Mobile on Saturday, Dec. 22.
“(Nicholls State) got after it, they were hungry, and we just watched the game. We have too many girls that are not tough. You have to be tough. This is Division I basketball. So, we have to back to square one, back to individual drills, and figure out and determine to play on this level.”
