LAKE CHARLES – A 7-to-1 differential on three-point buckets to go along with a 21-to-8 advantage on the offensive rebounds helped lead McNeese State to a 64-54 win over Northwestern State here Saturday afternoon in Southland Conference women's basketball action.

The loss came but not before the Lady Demons (5-13, 1-4 SLC) clawed their way back from a 16-point second half deficit to just seven points late in the game.  McNeese State (15-4, 5-0) won for the fifth straight time and remains the only unbeaten team in conference play.

“I thought we did a great job defensively,” said head coach Jennifer Graf.  “But we did a real poor job rebounding the ball, and that can't happen.”

McNeese held a 44-33 margin over the Lady Demons on the boards with 21 of those coming on the offensive end.  The Cowgirls scored 15 second chance points.

Trudy Armstead led the Lady Demons with 20 points and 11 rebounds for her second straight double-double while Jordi James added 13 points – 11 of those coming in the second half.

McNeese had three players score in double-digits, led by Ashlyn Baggett's 17 points.  Kendra Wells recorded a double-double after a 12 point, 10 rebound game, and Caitlyn Baggett scored 10 points despite being held without a field goal for just the second time this season.  She went 10-for-10 from the free throw line.

McNeese stormed out to a 10-2 lead to start the game behind back-to-back 3-point baskets from Wells and Ashlyn Baggett.  The Lady Demons got on the board after a layup by Armstead at the 17:38 mark and cut the lead to 17-10 after a James jumper with 11:01 to play.

McNeese built a 12-point lead with 7:07 to go but the Lady Demons rolled off a 6-0 run behind two jumpers from Armstead and another by Jasmine Upchurch to cut the deficit to 26-20 at the 4:12 mark.  And after trailing 32-26 with 1:45 to play, McNeese finished off the half on a 6-0 run to take a 38-26 lead into the break.

Both teams were equal on field goal shooting in the half with NSU knocking down 45.8 percent and McNeese 45.2 percent, but the Cowgirls hit 6 of 11 from long range while the Lady Demons went 0 for 6.

McNeese led by double-digits most of the second half until the Lady Demons went on a 10-2 run late in the game to cut a 16-point deficit to 57-49 with 1:15 left to play.  McNeese knocked down its last nine free throws to close out the game.

The Lady Demons connected on 45.1 percent of their shots for the game, including 12 of 27 for 44.4 percent in the second half.  Things weren't as rosy for McNeese as it was held to 32.3 percent shooting for the contest and just 19.4 percent (6 of 31) in the second half.

The Lady Demons, who started a three-game road swing with Saturday's game, will next play at Lamar on Wednesday.