By Jonathan Zenk, Northwestern State Assistant Director of Communications; featured photo by Chris Reich, NSU Photographic Services
HAMMOND—Down by 15 in the second half, the Northwestern State women’s basketball team showed resilience and cut the deficit to one score late, but was unable to break through in a 65-58 loss to league-leading Southeastern Louisiana on Thursday evening at University Center.
Like the first matchup, Northwestern State (12-13, 9-7) came back from a big deficit against the league’s best, as the Demons cut a 15-point deficit to a single bucket before 3-pointers on three straight possessions took back control for SLU (23-3, 17-0).
“I am proud of our girls’ fight tonight,” head coach Anna Nimz said. “We checked a lot of boxes as far as our game keys go. We had timely missed block outs and although our turnover count was down, they were at very bad times.
“We are good enough to beat the top three. We just have to continue to chip away and get to 40 full minutes.”
After being held in check in the first three quarters, Alexius Horne blew up for 12 of her game-high 23 points in the final quarter on 5-of-8 shooting, including the final two triples in the run of the three straight 3-pointers.
With Northwestern State down 40-25, the Demons ended the third quarter on a 15-6 run and had an extended 23-10 run to cut it 50-48 following a triple from Sharna Ayres and basket and foul from Vernell Atamah.
The Demons’ big three led the charge in the comeback, as Atamah and Mya Blake each scored six in the run, while Ayres posted five of her team-high 17.
Atamah recorded her second consecutive double-double, posting 15 points and 14 rebounds, the latter matched a career best.
She helped the Demons once again dominate the glass, out-rebounding the Lady Lions 44-33, including grabbing 18 offensive boards.
Ayres’ three total triples in the game gives her 188 total in her career, which ties Judy Clark for the fourth-most in school history.
“Vee had absolutely beast of a night and Sharna really had a very good and balanced game tonight,” Nimz said. “Clarence (Djuela) gave us big minutes and was very effective for us inside on the boards and scoring opportunities.”
After Atamah’s basket and foul, the Lady Lions embarked on a 13-5 run to take back control and expand the advantage to 10.
Horne scored the final 10 points of that run for SLU. Taylor Bell buried the first 3-pointer of the run to start the run before Horne took over.
After going 1-of-6 from deep in the first half, the Lady Lions made 5-of-8 from behind the arc in the second half against the top 3-point defense in the country. In comparison, the Demons made just 2-of-12 in the second half and 4-of-22 overall from deep.
In a tightly-contested first half, SLU tried to run away and hide, leading by as many as eight, but Northwestern State kept within striking distance and Ayres’ first of three triples with less than a minute and a half left cut the deficit to 25-20 at halftime.
Jalencia Pierre came out strong in the second half with five straight points of her 14, leading a 15-5 spurt to begin the half to blow the game open for the moment before Northwestern State fought back.
In addition to Ayres’ 17 points and Atamah’s 15, Blake also scored in double figures with 13.
Clarence Djuela, a freshman from Germany, added seven points and a career-high nine rebounds, including seven offensive.
The Demons wrap up the road portion of the schedule Saturday when they travel to New Orleans before coming back to Prather Coliseum for the final three games of the season, beginning with a monster contest against UIW on Feb. 27.
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