Box Score NATCHITOCHES – In a game where Northwestern State had one of its better contests in shooting from the floor, the outcome did not reflect it as the Lady Demons fell to McNeese State 80-62 in Southland Conference women's basketball action here Saturday afternoon.
 
NSU (5-20, 1-11) connected on 22 of 45 for 48.9 percent from the field, including 12 of 21 for 57.1 percent in the second half, but 24 turnovers and a season-low 26 rebounds hampered any attempt the Lady Demons' had in getting back into the game.
 
McNeese State (19-7, 9-3 SLC) took advantage of the Lady Demon miscues and lack of rebounding.  The Cowgirls scored 24 points off of the NSU turnovers and also had 17 second chance points after pulling down 17 offensive rebounds.
 
McNeese also knocked down 26 of its 31 free throws while NSu connected on just 15 of 23.
 
Trudy Armstead led NSU with 16 points followed by a double-double from Jordi James with 14 points and 10 rebounds.  Jasmine Upchurch netted 10 points for her seventh straight double-figure scoring game.
 
The Baggett twins, Ashlyn and Caitlyn led McNeese in scoring, Caitlyn with 26 points including a perfect 14 for 14 from the free throw line, and Ashlyn with 19 points.  Kendra Wells added 14 points and 10 rebounds to polish off the double-double.
 
McNeese opened the game on a 6-0 run but the Lady Demons kept things close early on behind good defensive play.  A basket by Tiandra Williams pulled NSU to within 13-9 with 13:06 to play in the half and after falling behind 27-215 at the 8:04 mark, the Lady Demons cut the gap to 29-24 after a trey from James followed by back-to-back baskets from Meredith Graf with 3:00 to play.
 
The Cowgirls finished off the half on a 13-3 run to take a 42-27 lead into the break.
 
McNeese outscored NSU 12-4 to start the second half and built its largest lead of the game at 54-31 following two free throw by Wells.  The Lady Demons slowly chipped away at the lead and got the margin down to 70-55 after an Arianne Ausmer layup with 6:02 to play.
 
But a 3-point basket by Caitlyn Baggett as the shot clock horn sounded seemed to deflate NSU's bid for the big rally and the Cowgirls went on to close out the game.
 
McNeese outrebounded the Lady Demons by a 40-26 margin and hit 42.1 percent (24 of 57) from the floor, including 6 of 15 (40 percent) from 3-point range.
 
Next up for the Lady Demons will be a visit to Sam Houston State, the league's West Division leader, at 6:30 on Wednesday.