BEAUMONT, Texas – A game-winning three-point attempt at the buzzer by Tiandra Williams was off the mark as Northwestern State's magical rally from a 19-point second half deficit fell just short, 58-56, to Lamar here Wednesday night in women's Southland Conference basketball action.

Trailing 58-56 with seven seconds remaining, Lamar's Kalis Loyd missed both of her free throws as NSU's Trudy Armstead corralled the rebound and made an outlet pass to Williams, who sent the shot away at the top of the key as what would've been a historic rally fell just short.

Jasmine Upchurch netted 21 points to go along with 11 rebounds while Jordi James added 15 points and 10 boards in playing the entire 40 minutes as the Lady Demons fell to 5-14 on the season and 1-5 in league play.

Lamar (10-9, 2-3) got 14 points from Loyd to hang on for the win and give head coach Larry Tidwell his 100th career victory.

The Lady Demons trailed 30-15 at the half after they made just 23 percent (7 of 30), but led 5-0 to start the game before Lamar scored 18 straight over the next 11 minutes to build an 18-5 lead.

“We dug ourselves in a hole in the first half and we were left with a big challenge to try and make a comeback,” said Lady Demon head coach Jennifer Graf. 

NSU scored six straight to cut the deficit to 18-11 but Lamar went on a 12-4 run to end the stanza.

The Lady Cardinals opened the second half on a 4-0 run to go up 34-15 – its largest lead of the game, before the Lady Demons started to take advantage of missed Lamar shots while making good on scoring opportunities.

James started an 8-0 run with a layup followed by a jumpers from Upchurch and Meredith Graf, then another layup by James to cut the deficit to 34-23 with 16:41 to play.

Lamar ended the streak with an 8-1 run of its own to go up 42-24, and after the Lady Cardinals led 45-29 with 11:46 to go, NSU clawed its way back into the game with a 15-4 run to cut the deficit to 49-44 after an Upchurch free throw with 5:59 to play.

The Lady Demons got to within 55-52 after a James jumper with 1:15 to play, and after two missed Lamar free throws, that lead was cut to 55-54 after another jumper by James was good with 24 seconds remaining.

A quick foul put Lamar to the line where Brateicka missed one of two, but Lamar regained possession of the ball and forced NSU to foul.  

Loyd hit both free throws and Upchurch followed with a layup with 17 seconds left to cut the margin to 58-56.

“We did a great job in the second half by scoring 41 points and having a chance to win it,” said Graf.  “We let them man-handle us early and we weren't able to set up our offense like we wanted to.  We were having to run our offense from 30 feet out, and that just won't work”

Armstead, who collected her 100th block of her career after getting two in the game, added 12 points with seven boards. 

The Lady Demons will close out their three-game road swing on Saturday when they visit Southeastern Louisiana.