NATCHITOCHES – The Northwestern State women's basketball team broke from its trusted Southland Conference formula Saturday afternoon at Prather Coliseum.
The end result, however, was the same, as the Lady Demons pulled away from visiting Incarnate Word to post a 73-51 Southland victory. Northwestern State improved to 9-6 overall and 4-0 in conference play, its best conference start since the 2003-04 Lady Demons started Southland play 11-0.
"I thought we were pretty good in the first half offensively," third-year co-head coach
Brooke Stoehr said. "Second half, we got great execution and missed some easy shots, but I was more proud of our defense in the second half. We gave up too many points in the first half (34), and they had one kid who hadn't made a 3 all year and she hit one in the first half. We felt like we needed to take away the high post in the second half."
NSU carried a lead into halftime of a Southland game for the first time this season after hitting 50 percent of its first-half shots. UIW (4-10, 1-2) hung around, however, making 48 percent of its shots to stay within four points of the Lady Demons.
With
Arianne Ausmer and
Chelsea Rogers tightening up the defense on the Cardinals' high-post-based offense, NSU held Incarnate Word to 23.1-percent shooting (6-for-23) in the final 20 minutes.
"We went back to our 2-3 zone, covering that high post and forcing them to kick out and not being able to pick apart our zone like they did in the first half," Stoehr said.
The Lady Demons' stronger zone helped offset a slower second half shooting-wise. Northwestern State hit 40.9 percent of its second-half shots, but the combination of
Keisha Lee (game-high 22 points) and
Janelle Perez (21) were more than enough to overwhelm the visitors.
"(Perez) had some really good looks at the basket," Stoehr said. "She made a couple of nice moves and got the ball into the heart of the defense. She's hard to guard because she's so low to the ground and she can penetrate and get in there and really make some things happen. The good thing is they were 7-of-13 (Lee) and 7-of-11 (Perez), so high-percentage shots."
After a back-and-forth first 13-plus minutes, Lee knocked down consecutive 3-pointers on assists from Perez to snap a 25-all tie and set in motion a 10-0 NSU run that gave the Lady Demons the lead for good.
Incarnate Word rallied from the 35-25 deficit with a 12-3 surge across both halves that cut the lead to 38-37 on a pair of Aricka Adams' free throws at the 18:17 mark of the second half.
With 15:59 to play in the game, Perez hit a jumper for NSU's first points of the second half and quelled UIW's momentum. After Shanise Brooks pulled UIW back within one on the next possession, NSU's
Beatrice Attura delivered a three-point play with 15:07 to play and UIW never climbed within four points the rest of the way.
In keeping with its keys to success, Northwestern State tied a season-low with eight turnovers while forcing 18 UIW miscues. The Lady Demons used that discrepancy to build a 17-7 advantage in points off turnovers.
NSU also owned a decided advantage at the line, hitting 84 percent of its free throws (21 for 25) compared to 52.9 percent from UIW (9 for 17).
"I'm proud of our free-throw percentage and the best part is we valued the basketball," Stoehr said. "We had two turnovers late when we were trying to run clock, but six to that point, I think that's very good."
Lee and Perez were NSU's double-figure scorers, while Adams led UIW with 13 points.
The Lady Demons return to action Wednesday at 7 p.m. when they travel to Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. Following that, NSU opens a season-long, three-game homestand Jan. 17 against Lamar.
