Box Score NATCHITOCHES – For 36 minutes, Northwestern State went toe-to-toe with one of, if not, the best teams in the Southland Conference in Central Arkansas.
 
After going up 61-56 with 3:55 to play in the game, the Lady Demons misfired on their final four shots from the floor as UCA rolled off 11 straight points in beating NSU 67-61 in a Southland Television Network women's basketball game in Prather Coliseum on Wednesday night.
 
The big blow came with 1:51 remaining and the Lady Demons (5-16, 1-7) hanging onto a 61-59 lead and UCA's Courtney Duever sank a 3-point basket from the top of the key to give the Sugar Bears (17-4, 7-1) the lead for good.
 
“I think that shot's going to give me nightmares for a while,” said head coach Jennifer Graf whose team rebounded from a 41-point beating it took at Central Arkansas just two weeks ago.
 
“We have a lot of fight in us.  When we went up to UCA we made some mistakes, and I'll be the first one to blame for that.  We didn't pressure them up at their place and took our chances.  But in getting ready for this game, (assistant coach) Bob Austin, who had the scout for this game, came to me on Monday and said that we have to take the fight to them.  We have to pressure them up and go right at them.”
 
That style of play helped NSU hold the lead for most of the game while only surrendering the advantage just once until the waning moments of the second half.
 
Three Lady Demon players scored in double-figures, led by an 18-point outing by Jasmine Upchurch who hit 9 of 14 from the field.  Jordi James connected on 7 of 14 of her shots for 17 points while Meredith Graf scored 10 points while hitting 2 of 4 from 3-point range.
 
Trudy Armstead saw her streak of seven games when scoring in double-figures come to an end with eight points, but corralled 18 rebounds with flour blocked shots.
 
The Sugar Bears were led by Megan Herbert's 23 points and 13 rebounds – nine of those on the offensive front that helped UCA knock in 12 second chance points.
 
NSU scored the game's first three points and UCA took its only lead of the first half after a layup by Desiree Rogers gave her team a 6-5 lead.  The Lady Demons quickly got down the court and Upchurch put NSU back on top with a fast break layup. 
 
The Lady Demons led 14-13 with 10:35 to play in the half when they went on a 7-1 spurt behind jumpers by Armstead and Upchurch and a trey by James to give them their largest lead of the contest at 21-14 with 7:55 to play.
 
UCA got the margin down to 25-23 after a 3-pointer by Rogers but Meredith Graf answered with a trey of her own with 1:40 to play to give the Lady Demons a 28-23 lead going into the break.
 
NSU took a couple of seven-point leads early in the second half and after UCA cut the margin to 32-31 with 17:45 to play, got back-to-back baskets from Upchurch to go up 36-31 with 15:49 to go.
 
The teams traded baskets over the next three minutes before UCA scored four straight after a layups from Duever and Herbert to tie the game at 40-all with 12:41 to play.
 
Both teams went back-and-forth once again in a span that saw three more ties and a couple of lead changes until the Sugar Bears garnered their largest lead of the game at 54-50 with 8:34 to play after Duever knocked down a 3-pointer.
 
NSU answered with a steal and traditional three-point play by Ronikka Drake to cut the margin to one, then another steal, this time by Tiandra Williams, led to a basket by Armstead to give the Lady Demons the lead at 57-56 with 5:37 to play.
 
That sequence was the beginning of a 6-point burst that included layups by James and Upchurch and NSU led 61-56 with 3:55 to play and appeared to be on its way to the league's biggest upset of the season.
 
However, the Sugar Bears proved their worthiness as the league's No. 1 team and held the Lady Demons scoreless the rest of the way to pull out the win.
 
NSU connected on 46.6 percent of its shots from the field (27-58) but hit just 3 of 11 from 3-point range.  UCA hit 40 percent for the game but knocked down 55 percent (17 of 31) in the second half as it outscored the Lady Demons 44-33 in the second stanza.
 
Next up, the Lady Demons return to the road for a Saturday night visit to Texas A&M-Corpus Christi before returning home on Feb. 8 against Lamar to begin a three-game home stand.