BEAUMONT, Texas – Northwestern State will continue its three-game road swing to south Louisiana and southeast Texas on Wednesday when it visits Lamar at 7 in the Montagne Center in Southland Conference women's hoops action.
 
The Lady Demons (5-13, 1-4 SLC), reeling after a hard-fought, 10-point loss at league unbeaten McNeese State last Saturday, will be looking to notch their first league win away from home on the season while Lamar (9-9, 1-3), is coming off a 63-53 loss to Central Arkansas and has dropped three of its last four games.
 
“I was really proud of our effort down there in Lake Charles and against the best team in the league in McNeese State,” said head coach Jennifer Graf.  “I thought we did a really good job defensively in staying focused and forcing McNeese into some missed shots.”
 
The Lady Demons held McNeese to 32 percent shooting for the game, including 19 percent in the second half.  But NSU was unable to get any closer than eight points in the second stanza and dropped the game by 10.
 
Lamar will present a different challenge to the Lady Demons than McNeese did.
 
“They are completely different from McNeese in the fact that they only return two of their starters from last season, but they do return their top scorer,” said Graf.  “McNeese likes to set things up and run its offense.  Lamar likes to get out and run a little bit, so it's going to be our job to make sure we get out in front of them and slow them down.”
 
Junior forward Kalis Loyd is one of those two starters that return for the Lady Cardinals, and like last season, tops this year's squad in scoring at 15.6 points per game.  Senior forward Monique Whittaker, with a 10.4 scoring average, is the only other Lady Cardinal player scoring in double-figures.
 
The Lady Demons possess three players who are averaging double-digits in scoring and led by Jordi James' 13.7 mark followed by Trudy Armstead at 13.2 ppg and Jasmine Upchurch with a 10.5 average.
 
Armstead is coming off her second straight and seventh double-double of the season after she scored 20 points with 11 rebounds at McNeese.  The junior forward is averaging 16.8 points and 10.8 rebounds her last five games and has swatted at least four shots in each of the last four contests.
 
“We're focusing our game in on Trudy,” said Graf.  “She can score it so well with her back to the basket and facing up so it makes it very difficult to guard her.  She hit some pretty big shots for us on Saturday.”
 
Wednesday's game, which will be broadcast on the Demon Sports Network and 100.7 KZBL in Natchitoches, will be the 41^st meeting between the two schools with NSU holding a 29-11 lead in the all-time series.
 
Lamar won all three contests last season, including an 81-77 win in the first round of the Southland Conference Tournament.  The Lady Cardinals have won five straight in the series and eight of the last 10 games.
 
Following Wednesday's game, the Lady Demons will wrap up their road swing with a Saturday afternoon game at Southeastern Louisiana before returning home on Feb. 1 for a Southland Television game against Central Arkansas.