AUSTIN, Texas – The first road trip of the 2016-17 season will be a familiar one for the Northwestern State women's basketball team.
 
After playing the first three games of the season at home, the Lady Demons (3-0) travel deep in the heart of the Lone Star State to face No. 14 Texas at 7 p.m. Wednesday.
 
It marks the fourth straight season Northwestern State heads to the Erwin Center for a matchup with the nationally ranked Longhorns (1-2).
 
As first road trips go, first-year head coach Jordan Dupuy could have had an easier task, but he said the Lady Demons will treat the game like any other.
 
"We told them in the locker room (after Monday's win against Central Baptist), we don't do everything we've been doing since this summer or since April or May to go to Austin just to show up," Dupuy said. "We have a game plan. We believe in the game plan. We want to be in the game in the fourth quarter. We're not going there just to play a game."
 
The first matchup between the schools on Nov. 16, 2010, marked Northwestern State's first game against a ranked team in almost six years. Since then, the Lady Demons have faced at least one ranked opponent in every season except 2011-12.
 
Northwestern State's busiest season against ranked teams since the drought ended was in 2014-15 when the Lady Demons faced then-No. 5 Texas A&M and then-No. 3 Texas in the regular season and No. 5 Baylor in the NCAA Tournament.
 
Through the first three games of the season, the Lady Demons have faced three non-Division I opponents and tallied at least 80 points in each game, including topping the 90-point mark in consecutive wins against LSU-Alexandria (97-76) and Central Baptist (93-42).
 
Through the first three games, five NSU players have scored in double figures at least once. Senior guard Beatrice Attura has reached double figures in each game and carries an 18.3 points per game average into Wednesday's matchup.
 
The Longhorns present a much different challenge.
 
Texas has dropped road games against then-No. 13 Stanford and then-No. 10 Mississippi State, sandwiched around a 98-46 victory against NSU's fellow Southland Conference member Houston Baptist.
 
Offensively, Brooke McCarty averages 18.3 points per game, which ranks fifth in the Big 12 entering Tuesday's games. From a size standpoint, Texas features six players 6-foot-3 or taller, by far the largest front line NSU has faced this season.
 
"They are a very good team," Dupuy said. "We are probably outmanned a bit physically, but that doesn't mean we can't play the best game we've played yet. It doesn't mean we can't out-execute them. It doesn't mean we can't go get every loose ball. We have to go in with the right mentality, and that starts with our preparation."
 
Wednesday's matchup is the first of six games in Texas this season for Northwestern State.
 
It also marks a homecoming of sorts for sophomore post Cheyenne Brown and freshman guard Jocelyn Scott. Both Scott (McKinney North HS) and Brown (Martin's Mill HS), two of six former Texas high school players on the NSU roster, reached the UIL state tournament when it was held on the Texas campus.
 
Wednesday's game will be televised on the Longhorn Network and can be heard on 100.7 FM KZBL in Natchitoches. Tony Taglavore will handle the radio call while Alex Loeb will be on the TV play-by-play call with former U.S. national team coach Nell Fortner providing color commentary.