Box Score WACO, Texas – Northwestern State played a tough first half behind Trudy Armstead and Beatrice Attura, but a second half surge by ninth-ranked Baylor gave the Lady Bears an 88-54 win over the women's basketball team Friday night in the Athletes in Action Classic.
 
"I thought that everybody who went into the game gave great effort, and obviously we're not pleased a lopsided margin-of-defeat but I'm proud of our kids and the way they fought," said second-year co-head coach Brooke Stoehr. "I felt like we did get better today.
 
"We got some big minutes from some freshmen that haven't played a lot for us so far," she said. "That's exciting for me, but I thought our intensity was much, much better tonight."
 
The Lady Demons (2-2) put together a fantastic first half together and only trailed Baylor 38-30 at the break.   Trudy Armstead had 15 points and three rebounds, and Attura had 11 points and three boards at halftime. 
 
"[Beatrice] came in and just had that attack mentality. She was fearless to start with and I thought that was really good for her confidence," said Stoehr. "We're going to need her to play big mintues for us. The more people that we can get minutes now it would be huge for their confidence."
 
Attura came into the contest having played in every game, but never scored a point.  
 
Twice the Lady Demons were tied or down by only one point with a chance to take the lead.
 
At the 7:29 mark in the first half, Armstead hit a free throw to tie the game at 25. After NSU got the ball back on a foul by BU (5-0), Janelle Perez missed a jumper before the Bears missed three jumpshots and was fouled by NSU.
 
Again, Armstead hit a 15-footer to put the score at 28-27 with 4:43 in the first half, but another jumper hit the side of the rim.
 
NSU outshot the Lady Bears 42-percent to 36-percent from the field in the first, and the two teams tied in 3-pointers made.  BU was only 56-percent from the charity stripe, but scored nine points at the line compared to five from NSU.
 
Baylor put together 50 points in the second half behind the Lady Bears' leading scorer Odyssey Sims who finished with 30 points.  It held the Lady Demons to 24 in the second, and opened the half with a 19-4 run to provide a 23 point cushion with 14 minutes to play.
 
Armstead finished the game with 19 points, Attura 13, and both at the top of the team ranks in rebounds.  Armstead had six, and Attura tied Kourtney Pennywell with four.
 
Pennywell and Janelle Perez tied for the team-lead in assists (3).
 
Overall, the Lady Demons were 37-percent from the field (21-of-57) from the field, and 5-of-23 behind the arc.  NSU was 7-of-13 from the free throw line.
 
BU was 30-of-71 (42-pecent) from the floor and tied the Lady Demons in 3-pointers made.   They greatly improved at the charity stripe in the second half with 14 hits in 15 attempts.
 
Nine Davis scored 11 points, and Kristina Higgins and Mariah Chandler led the Bears in rebounds (8).
 
The Lady Demons will take on Savannah State at 7 o'clock in the final game of the Athletes in Action Classic.  Tony Taglavore will have the radio call on 100.7 KZBL in Natchitoches following the Demon football game versus Stephen F. Austin at 1 o'clock.
 
The Lady Demons will return to Prather Coliseum on Dec. 2 to face Jackson State.