NATCHITOCHES – It wasn't always smooth, but it was an effective pre-Thanksgiving performance for the Northwestern State women's basketball team.
 
Boosted by a 12-point run to open the game, the Lady Demons pressed their way past visiting LSU-Alexandria, 85-55, on Wednesday morning, moving back above .500 in the early season.
 
"We had 25 assists on 34 baskets, which is good," second-year head coach Jordan Dupuy said. "We had good production off the bench. Jada (Freeman) came in off the bench and did some good things. We crashed the offensive glass. There were a lot of things that weren't very good also."
 
Still, the good outweighed the bad.
 
NSU (3-2) started quickly, hitting 5 of its first 7 shots, including three 3-pointers en route to a 15-3 lead less than four minutes into the game. The Lady Demons never trailed and the game was never tied after Leah Barnes' layup 18 seconds into the game.
 
The visiting Generals, who played the game as an exhibition, pushed back at the start of the second quarter, using a quick 5-0 spurt to cut the lead to 10. That was as close as the game would be for the final 29 minutes.
 
After outscoring LSUA by just three points in the second quarter, the Lady Demons cranked up the pressure in the third quarter, forcing 10 turnovers and turning them into 13 points.
 
"That's the way we have to be," Dupuy said. "In order to create tempo and score the way we want to score, you have to start it on the defensive end. Our press does wear people down, but it wears some of us down, too. We have to get in better shape."
 
Northwestern State was more efficient offensively in the second half, shooting 56.7 percent (17-for-30) from the field.
 
Nautica Grant, playing her second game after a suffering a preseason injury, assisted on eight of those buckets, finishing with 10 assists in her second Division I game. Grant's total gave NSU its first double-figure assister of the season and first since Beatrice Attura tallied 11 against Nicholls on Jan 12.
 
"(Dupuy) made it a point to keep running the offense," said Grant, a transfer from Tyler Junior College. "I saw my teammates open and wanted to get them the ball."
 
Libba Gilliam paced the NSU offense with 16 points, her third double-figure scoring outing in the first five games of the season. Freeman and Tia Youngblood each added a season-high 10 points.
 
Freeman's double-figure scoring output was the first of her career while Youngblood notched double figures for the first time since dropping in 12 against Houston Baptist on Feb. 9.
 
"Our press helped us get a lot of turnovers (early), which helped us on the offensive end," said Gilliam, who hit six of nine shots, including both of her 3-point tries, in 19 minutes. "We ran our offense well. We got it inside-out initially. Leah (Barnes) was able to hit me outside, and I made the shots."
 
The Lady Demons return to action Tuesday, hosting Southern Miss after a six-day break between games. Tipoff for that game is set for 6:30 p.m. inside Prather Coliseum.