NATCHITOCHES – The Northwestern State Lady Demon basketball team is ready for battle as it prepares for Wednesday night's Southland TV Network game against first place Central Arkansas.
 
Tip-off is slated for 7 p.m. in Prather Coliseum.  The game can be viewed on KPXJ's MeTV in Natchitoches – channel 716 on Suddenlink and 21.2 over the air.  It will also be streamed live on ESPN3 and Southland.org.  Former NSU play-by-play announcer Lyn Rollins will be joined by former WNBA and LSU Lady Tiger head coach Van Chancellor will broadcast the game.
 
The Lady Demons (5-15, 1-6 SLC) has turned the intensity up quite a bit this week in practices knowing how big of a game it'll be against the Sugar Bears (16-4, 6-1).
 
“It's always great to be back home,” said head coach Jennifer Graf who's coaching staff donned camouflage t-shirts while the entire staff and players wore eye black during Tuesday's practice.  “We've got four of the next five here at our place, so that's always a great thing.”
 
The last time the two teams met, Central Arkansas handed NSU an 84-43 whipping – the worst loss by a Lady Demon team in Southland Conference play.
 
“We were completely outmatched up there,” said Graf of the game played in Conway back on Jan. 14.  “We're going to run things a little bit differently on Wednesday.”
 
The contest will possess three of the best forwards in the Southland Conference in Northwestern State's Trudy Armstead and Jasmine Upchurch and UCA's Megan Herbert.
 
Armstead is second on the team and 13^th in the league in scoring at 13.1 ppg.  She's scored double-figures in seven straight games and is coming off a 15-point outing at Southeastern Louisiana.  She's also the team leader and is tied for third in the Southland in rebounding with a 9.0 per game average.
 
Upchurch recorded her second consecutive double-double on Saturday at SLU with 18 points and 10 boards.  She's third on the team and 16^th in the league in scoring (11.1 ppg) and is second on the team and sixth in the conference in rebounding (8.2 rpg).  Upchurch is also fourth in the Southland in field goal shooting with a 50.3 percentage.
 
Herbert tops the Sugar Bears in both scoring (15.3 ppg) and rebounding (10.2 rpg), categories where she ranks sixth and second respectively in the Southland.
 
This will be the first game back in Prather Coliseum since a 61-57 win over Texas-San Antonio on Jan. 18.  And despite the Lady Demons' 1-6 record in league play, the last time they were 1-6 (2007-08 season), they rolled off seven wins in the final nine games to finish at .500.
 
Following Wednesday's game, the Lady Demons return to the road for a Saturday visit to Texas A&M-Corpus Christi before returning home on Feb. 8 against Lamar to start a three-game home stand.