By Jonathon Zenk, Northwestern State Assistant Director of Communications; featured photo by Chris Reich, NSU Photographic Services
NEW ORLEANS—Mya Blake and Vernell Atamah combined for 57 points, leading the Northwestern State women’s basketball team to a 76-74 comeback victory in the road finale at New Orleans on Saturday afternoon at Lakefront Arena.
A pair of Blake free throws with 47 seconds left broke a 74-74 deadlock and the Northwestern State (13-13, 10-7) defense held on to snap a three-game losing streak and keep the Demons in the mix for a bye in next month’s Southland Conference Tournament.
“I’m very proud of the fight down the stretch,” head coach Anna Nimz said. “We have not won a close game yet, and they found a way to win…and that’s what good teams do.
“Now we need to re-group and rest Sunday before getting after it in practice Monday. Our final three games will require 40 minutes of great play for us to have success.”
The charity stripe loomed large for the Demons. For the game, they made 23-of-32 from the free throw line, but came through in crunch time, burying 12-of-15 at the line in the fourth quarter.
With the victory, the Demons finished 6-4 on the road in league play.
Despite leading for much of the game, UNO (3-23, 3-14) saw the advantage slip away and its SLC Tournament hopes are on life support.
Down three with two minutes to play following a triple from Alexis Calderon, the Demons made 5-of-6 down the stretch and the defense held the Privateers off the scoreboard, limiting them to 0-for-5 from the field and a turnover and UNO also missed a pair of free throws by Jayla Kimbrough to aid the comeback.
Despite shooting sub-30 percent from 3-point range going in, shot 9-of-18 from deep, many of which stopped Demons runs and kept them at arm’s length.
Nora Francois, coming off a triple-double last game and poured in 20 points Saturday, missed a jumper as time expired to seal the Demons victory. The 13 wins are the most since also winning 13 in 2016-17.
UNO led by as many as seven in the fourth quarter, but Northwestern State came right back with a pair of Vernell Atamah free throws and a Payton Miller steal and basket, plus the foul.
Northwestern State out-scored UNO 25-17 in the final 10 minutes to win.
The Demons not only mounted a comeback in the second half but also did so in the first.
After Northwestern State led 3-2 following a Blake 3-pointer, the Privateers embarked on a 12-0 run to grab a 14-3 lead and the Demons had to play catch-up the remainder of the half.
Six straight points from Atamah to cut the deficit to 20-19, the Privateers recorded a 12-3 spurt to push the advantage back to 10.
Atamah finished one rebound shy of her third consecutive double-double, posting 26 points and nine boards and finishing with 29 points and 11 rebounds in the first meeting.
The Demons came back with 12 in a row to take the lead, with 10 being from Blake, before Shanihya Brown connected on a layup to knot the contest up at 34 at the break before the second half went much like the first before Northwestern State came back to win.
Nia Hardison made two free throws, but Blake and Atamah collected 32 of the Demons’ 34 first half points.
The Demons shot 6-of-12 in the fourth along with going 12-of-15 from the charity stripe and the defense locked down in the second half, holding the Privateers to just 29.4 shooting in the final 20 minutes.
Carla Celaya added five points on 2-of-4 from the field along with hauling down seven rebounds.
Even though the Demons turned the ball over a few more times (21-18), Northwestern State scored more points off those turnovers 24-23.
Francois led four Privateers in double figures, as she was joined by Jasmine Jones (14), Calderon (11) and Syria Butler (10).
Now Northwestern State heads home to Prather Coliseum for the final three games of the season, beginning with a massive game against UIW on Thursday before finishing up the season with Houston Christian and East Texas A&M.
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