NATCHITOCHES – Getting its only chance to play in Prather Coliseum this month, the Northwestern State basketball team squares off Saturday at 3 against old rival Louisiana College, looking for defensive improvement with two challenging road games looming next week.

The Demons (3-5) and Wildcats (3-1) have met 151 times over the past 98 years, with Northwestern claiming 114 victories. It will be the first matchup between NSU and LC, now an NCAA Division III program, since a 61-58 Demons win Nov. 23, 1999. Next week, Northwestern plays at nationally-ranked Baylor Wednesday night and goes to UTEP on Thursday to wrap up its non-conference schedule.

Northwestern lost for the fifth time in six outings Wednesday night, continuing to struggle defensively in a 93-71 defeat at Louisiana Tech. It was the lowest-scoring output by the Demons all season. NSU is allowing 91.8 points per game while opponents are sinking 47 percent of their shots, including 32 percent of their 3-pointers.

The game should be fast-paced as LC is averaging 82.5 points per game and has won three straight. The Wildcats are shooting 36 percent on 3-pointers. Anthony Gaines leads the team with a 23.3 scoring average and an 8.3 rebounding average while Kevin Cottonham is scoring 20 points per game and making 47 percent of his 3-pointers.

"They'll be a handful. It's a neighborhood rivalry that goes back a century and especially for the baby boomers and older folks, there are a lot of great memories of Northwestern-Louisiana College battles through the years," said 15th-year Demons coach Mike McConathy. "They'll be handful. Gene Rushing does a really good job guiding that program. Basketball-wise, they'll throw everything at you and they're going to play extremely hard, extremely smart."

McConathy is hoping his players will have handled their academic responsibilities well during final exams for the fall semester, and can focus on getting better on the basketball court Saturday afternoon.

"We're right in the midst of finals and coming off a disappointing performance Wednesday night. You have to be ahead academically, preparing to get to this point, and we're very hopeful that our young men will have handled their responsibilities and can step away and perform well in our game Saturday.

"But as strange as it sounds, although we had some real struggles Wednesday night, we did fight through and stayed in the game against an opponent that played very well," he said. "Hopefully we will have learned some valuable lessons and we can build from those."

For NSU, sophomore point guard Jalan West tops four double-digit scorers with his 18.9 average, bolstered by a 28-point outing in Wednesday night's loss at Louisiana Tech. DeQuan Hicks is averaging 15.3 points and 6.4 rebounds, a team-high. Zeek Woodley is scoring 13.3 points per game while Brison White averages 11.9 and the Demons are posting 85.6 points per game.

The Demons were without three of their most experienced players Wednesday but may get two back for the LC game. Senior guard Gary Stewart continues to recover from knee surgery and is out for another couple of weeks. Junior center Marvin Frazier is recovering from illness and might play tomorrow while junior guard Tyler Washington, who was hurt in a practice collision early this week, should be good to go against the Wildcats.

Fans can take advantage of two ticket deals. A $10 combo deal provides a game ticket and a wristband for admission to the downtown riverbank where the Saturday evening fireworks show will highlight nighttime activities after the game. Anyone bringing a toy to be donated to needy children in the community can get a $4 game ticket.

The contest will be broadcast on the Demon Sports Network flagshipped by 100.7 FM KZBL in Natchitoches, and including 99.9 KTEZ FM in Many. Free audio is available at NSUDemons.com, which also provides a pay-per-view or subscription video stream for all NSU home games.

Next week's visits to Baylor and UTEP wrap up NSU's December schedule. The Demons open Southland Conference play at home Jan. 2 against Sam Houston State.