HAMMOND, La. – Southeastern Louisiana senior forward
Nanna Pool had eight double-doubles in 2015-16 heading into Saturday's Southland Conference matchup against Nicholls in the University Center.
Pool got number nine in a big way, pulling down a career-high 22 rebounds while scoring 23 points as the Lady Lions snapped a seven-game losing streak with a 78-68 victory.
Pool broke her previous best of 19 rebounds and finished one off the Lady Lion University Center record set by Deneka Knowles against Grambling during the 1992-93 season.
KaeLynn Boyd also had a double-double with a career-high 10 assists and 18 points for Southeastern (4-19, 3-9). She also had eight rebounds and three steals.
Taylin Underwood added 20 points and six rebounds. The Lady Lions shot a season-high 55.8 percent from the field, including 56 percent in the second half, while also out-rebounding Nicholls 42-24.
Nicholls (8-14, 6-6) had three players in double figures as Tia Charles scored 19 points, Cassidy Barrios 17 and LiAnn McCarthy 15. Marina Lilly led the Colonels with six rebounds.
Southeastern which trailed by as many as six early in the second quarter closed the period on a 13-6 run to take a 35-34 halftime lead. Underwood hit a 3-pointer, one of her four in the game, and Pool followed with a jumper to make it 28-27 with 7:32 left in the half.
Nicholls held off the Lady Lions until Pool hit a short jumper from the left wing to give the Lady Lions the 35-34 lead with 53 seconds remaining until the break. Pool had 11 points and 11 rebounds in the first 20 minutes.
Pool opened the second half with a jumper and Underwood hit a 3 to make it 40-34 at the 8:22 mark. A Pool jumper extended the lead to 45-36 with 6:02 left in the third. A three-point play gave the Lady Lions a 58-47 advantage with 2:30 remaining. Lilly hit two free throws and Hope Pawlowski added one in the final 1:11 to pull Nicholls to within 62-54 at the end of the quarter.
But the Colonels did not get any closer.
Chey Stewart hit a jumper to push the lead to 66-54 with 7:41 remaining. A pair of Pool free throws made it 74-61 at the one-minute mark.
Southeastern got out to a 9-5 lead on a Boyd jumper at the 6:17 mark of the first quarter. Nicholls went up 10-9 on a Pawlowski layup with 5:18 left. The Lady Lions countered with a 5-0 run of its own to regain a 14-10 lead on a Stewart layup with 4:30 remaining.
But the Colonels used a 12-2 run to take a 22-16 lead on two Charles free throws with 2:01 left. Boyd hit a jumper to tie it at 22 with 42 seconds remaining but Charles knocked down a 3 with 5 seconds left to give Nicholls a 25-22 lead at the end of the period.
McCarthy hit another 3 as Nicholls went up 28-22 with 9:37 left in the half.
Southeastern closes out its four-game homestand against New Orleans Thursday at 7 p.m.
