By Jonathan Zenk, Northwestern State Assistant Director of Communications; featured photo by Chris Reich, NSU Photographic Services
NATCHITOCHES—A second half comeback attempt fell short as Northwestern State saw its five-game winning streak come to an end 66-57 at the hands of league-leading Southeastern Louisiana.
The Demons (8-8, 5-2) fell behind by as many as 18 points but cut the deficit to four midway through the fourth quarter, but the Lady Lions (14-3, 8-0) flexed their muscle with an 8-0 run to respond and go up 60-48.
Northwestern State had one more run in it, cutting to five points with 47.4 to play after back-to-back triples from Payton Miller and Mya Blake, but that is as close as the Demons fought back to, as the Lady Lions made 10 of their 12 shots from the charity stripe to seal the victory.
“I’m proud of the girls,” head coach Anna Nimz said. “I think they put together three pretty solid quarters, the third and fourth quarters in particular. I think we came out ready to play in the first quarter. It was the tale of two halves. We had way too many turnovers in the first half.
“We’re definitely capable and I definitely believe in them. I think we are right there, but we didn’t play four quarters today. When you are playing the top team in the conference, one that is very tough and physical, we have to be the tougher team.”
After a blistering performance Thursday, Vernell Atamah led the way for the Demons, scoring 21 points and grabbing two rebounds.
Atamah scored 15 of her 20 in the second half to help the comeback in the fourth quarter.
“Vee has a desire to win,” Nimz said. “So when things weren’t necessarily happening, she kept fighting and wanting the ball and as a coach, you always want someone who is so confident that no matter where you put her on the court, she is going to try to make something happen. She shows a lot of maturity and the sky is the limit because she is only getting better game-by-game.
She single-handedly cut the deficit to four with five minutes to go in the game off, going on a personal 8-0 run after the Demons fell behind by 12.
Down 18 at halftime, the Demons received buckets from Nia Hardison, Blake and Jasmin Dixon to quickly cut the Lady Lions lead to 12. Overall, Northwestern State outscored SLU 23-12 in the quarter. The Demons did damage at the free throw line in the quarter, making 9-of-11 from the free throw line with Blake making six of her seven attempts.
“I thought they came out with a better energy and more aggressive energy out of halftime,” Nimz said. “They showed they could get to the rim and create off the bounce and obviously that paid off for us. We were able to get to the free throw line and create shorter shots.”
Blake dominated in the second half, scoring 18 of her 20 points in the final 20 minutes, including 12 in a third quarter that saw the Demons cut the deficit to seven.
The Demons turned the ball over just six times in the second half after committing 16 in the first half, which led to 14 points in the first half to lead SLU to the big lead.
As good as the third quarter was, the second quarter was on the opposite end of the spectrum, as SLU shot a blistering 63.6 percent from the field in the second, outscoring Northwestern State 18-6.
Tyreona Sibley did most of the damage, scoring all seven of her points in the quarter. The Lady Lions made 7-of-11 shots from the field, making nearly as many shots in the period as Northwestern State attempted, going 2-of-8.
Down 16-10 after one, Sharna Ayres made a 3-pointer to cut it to three, but the Lady Lions responded with an 18-3 run to blow the game open at halftime before the Demons made the second half run to make it a contest.
One of the deepest teams in the Southland Conference, the Lady Lions received 33 points from their bench, compared to seven for the Demons.
That group is led by Allasia Washington, who scored a team-high 19 points for SLU. Leading scorer Alexius Horne poured in 16 points, 10 of which came in the fourth quarter to help hold off Northwestern State.
Jalencia Pierre scored 10, the third of three Lady Lions to reach double figures.
The Lady Lions shot 45.1 percent, while the Demons shot 43.2 percent from the field.
The Demons hit the road for five of the next six games, starting with a trip to unbeaten Lamar on Thursday before rounding out the weekend with a trip to rival Stephen F. Austin on Jan. 25.
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