HAMMOND – After falling behind by as much as nine points in the second half, the Northwestern State women's basketball team twice cut Southeastern Louisiana's lead to one Saturday evening.
 
However, the Lady Demons were unable to secure a breakthrough bucket and dropped their second straight Southland Conference road game, falling 58-52 to the Lady Lions at the University Center.
 
The loss dropped Northwestern State to 12-9 overall and 7-3 in conference play. Coupled with Lamar's victory against Abilene Christian, the Lady Demons fell into second place.
 
"You've got to give Southeastern credit," third-year co-head coach Brooke Stoehr said. "I thought they just outhustled us, they outteamed us, they outhearted us. It was nothing other than them beating us to 50-50 balls and offensive rebounds."
 
Trailing by four at halftime, the Lady Demons got the opening bucket of the second half on a Keisha Lee layup before Southeastern Louisiana (7-12, 3-5) scored the next seven points, setting in motion a second half full of runs.
 
The Lady Demons answered SLU's first second-half surge with a Beatrice Attura-powered 9-2 run that pulled NSU to within 42-40 with 12:53 to play.
 
Attura finished with a career-high 18 points on an efficient 7-for-8 shooting. She hit two of the Lady Demons' 3-pointers, including one that capped the 9-2 blitz.
 
"She got to the rim, and she got to the free-throw line," Stoehr said. "She drew some fouls and got us into the bonus pretty early there."
 
After SLU pushed the lead back to seven on a 3-pointer by Taylin Underwood, NSU answered with a 6-0 spurt that cut the Lady Lions' lead to 47-46 with 9:29 to play.
 
The Lady Demons ran into an offensive drought after Janelle Perez' layup, as NSU did not connect on a field goal for the next 5:46 when Attura's layup sliced SLU's lead to five points with 3:43 to play.
 
Another Attura layup after a Perez floater in the paint got the SLU lead to one for the final time. On the ensuing possession, with the shot clock winding down, Erica Hernandez connected on a baseline jumper to push the lead to three.
 
NSU had a chance to tie, but the shot did not fall and SLU closed the game out with an Elizabeth Styles free throw and a late Jameika Hoskins layup.
 
Attura and Lee (14 points) were the only double-figure scorers for NSU. Perez finished with eight points, being held out of double figures for the first time in Southland play this season.
 
Nanna Pool led SLU with a double-double of 13 points and 11 rebounds, while Styles had 11 assists and added nine points.
 
"This one hurts because it was a chance to get another road win and coming off a road loss," Stoehr said. "We just have to be better. I have to coach better. I've got to get them ready to go. It doesn't get any easier, because we have SFA coming to Prather on Thursday."
 
The Lady Demons return home for their next game, hosting rival Stephen F. Austin on Thursday night at 6:30 p.m. in Prather Coliseum. The matchup with the Lady Jacks is the first of a two-game homestand for Northwestern State.