THIBODAUX, La. – A 12-0 run in the fourth quarter erased a six-point deficit and gave the Texas A&M University-Commerce women's basketball team a 77-70 win at Stopher Gymnasium on Monday evening against the Nicholls Colonels.
 
With their 10^th Southland Conference win of the season, the Lions are now 10-5 in conference play, tied for third with Lamar. Both teams have a three-game lead over UIW and Northwestern State, who are tied for fifth place with three games to play. The top four teams in the Southland tournament receive a first-round bye. A&M-Commerce is just a game back of second and two out of first place.
 
The Lions are 12-15 overall, while Nicholls is 4-22 overall and 1-14 in conference play. A&M-Commerce won both meetings over the Colonels this season.
 
Zaria Collins (Plano) started the game shooting 7 for 7 and made the first two field goals of the game to give the Lions a 4-0 lead. The Lions led 10-2 at the 7:16 mark of the first quarter with Collins scoring eight. The largest lead in the first quarter was nine points and it came with 23 seconds left.
 
At the 5:52 mark of the second quarter, the Lions had a 25-12 lead, which was the largest lead of the game. A 13-4 run to end the first half pulled the Colonels to 29-25 at halftime. Nicholls started the second half by scoring the first five points to take its first lead of the game.
 
Both teams exchanged leads until another 6-0 run gave Nicholls a 47-43 lead with 1:48 left in the third quarter. The Colonels led by as much as five in third quarter, but a putback layup at the buzzer by Olivia Russell (Auburn Hills, Mich.) pulled the Lions to 52-49 at the end of three.
 
Nicholls had a 57-51 lead with 8:08 to go in the game. The Lions scored the next 12 points to jump out to a six-point lead. The smallest lead for the Lions in the rest of the game was four points. A&M-Commerce went up by as much as 12 in the fourth quarter and outscored the Colonels, 28 to 18, in the fourth quarter. The Lions shot 62 percent in the fourth quarter.
 
In the game, A&M-Commerce shot 53 percent from the field, while Nicholls shot 43.8 percent. Collins finished the game with 23 points on 10 for 13 shooting and recorded a double-double with 10 rebounds. Her 23 points are most as a Lion.
 
DesiRay Kernal (Newton, Kan.) added 11 points by shooting 9 for 10 at the free throw line and dished out seven assists. Laila Lawrence (Lewisville) fouled out with two minutes left, but not before she scored 14 points and recorded four rebounds. Mia Deck (Frisco – Lone Star) scored eight and Jasmine Payne (Montgomery, Ala.) scored seven off the bench. All 10 Lions that appeared in the game scored at least two points.
 
For the Colonels, Lexi Alexander scored 21 points along with 15 rebounds. The Lions had the 39-32 edge in rebounding and had 18 assists in the game.


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UP NEXT
The Lions make their way across the state border to face Texas A&M-Corpus Christi on Thursday at 5 p.m. The Lions and the Islanders play twice in the final three games of the regular season.