Women's Basketball | 12/12/2017 10:48:00 AM

AUSTIN, Texas – In its last outing, the Northwestern State women's basketball team dealt with one of the nation's top individual scorers.
 
The next challenge facing the Lady Demons is to slow one of the nation's top scoring teams, a test that comes at 7 p.m. Wednesday when Northwestern State travels to No. 8 Texas. The game will be televised on the Longhorn Network and can be heard on 100.7 FM KZBL in Natchitoches and worldwide on www.NSUDemons.com.
 
The Longhorns (7-1) are fourth nationally in scoring, averaging 90.4 points per game and their plus-30 scoring margin ranks fifth among Division I teams.
 
"We're going to have to go against what we usually do, which is look to increase tempo," second-year head coach Jordan Dupuy said. "We want to have as many possessions as possible. We want to press. We're going to have to do things that slow the game down, decrease possessions, run the clock down. We're going to have to pick and choose when we run.
 
"It's going to be a score early or score late philosophy. I told them if you can get an early bucket, go get it. If not, make them guard defensively as long as you can."
 
Facing a top-10 team – and a second straight opponent that reached the 2017 NCAA Tournament – will be the toughest challenge thus far for the Lady Demons (4-4), who play back-to-back Big 12 teams starting Wednesday night.
 
"It's just the way it worked out," Dupuy said of facing consecutive opponents from a Power Five conference. "You have to do things financially for your program. We also want to go out and get our name out there, especially in the state of Texas because there are so many great players there.
 
"You go on the road and you have to grow. You have to learn a lesson and see growth."
 
Northwestern State has shown growth on the road this season, grabbing a 22-point win at UL Monroe on Dec. 3 that allowed NSU to equal its road victory total from the 2016-17 season.
 
The Lady Demons also have shown flashes of playing Power Five conference foes, holding a first-quarter lead at Ole Miss and playing Oklahoma State tough early.
 
While the 8^th-ranked Longhorns mark NSU's sixth top-10 opponent in the past five years, they also are a familiar foe.
 
Wednesday's game marks the fifth straight season in which the Lady Demons travel to the Frank Erwin Center to face Texas.
 
Part of the extended relationship has been thanks in part to the connection with former Lady Demons point guard Angela Ortega, who is Texas' assistant athletic director for basketball operations.
 
"A.O. is very special to us," Dupuy said. "We're in constant contact with her. She wants to do everything she can to support us, and she's done that. That's why we play this game every year. It helps us out as far as getting a lot of things done financially. Having her help with alumni relations – she does a lot to get former teammates back here.
 
"It's going to be good to go down there and give her a hug. The only time I don't cheer for Texas is when we play them. I want them to do well, and she wants us to do well."