NATCHITOCHES – Players spanning the 42-year history of Northwestern State Lady Demon basketball gathered Saturday to reunite with the program's two iconic coaches, Pat Nolen Pierson and James Smith, and catch up on their lives after college.
 
While more than two dozen banners hang from Prather Coliseum commemorating championships and landmark achievements by Lady Demon players and teams, Saturday's conversations only occasionally drifted back to great games or thrilling moments on the court.
 
"It's great to come back and see everyone. It's a big family reunion, smiles, hugs and storytelling, seeing families and how they've grown," said Kristen Davis, a four-year letterwinner who was part of the 2004 Southland Conference champion and NCAA Tournament team. "We get to see our coaches and tell them 'thank you' again for the experiences they provided us."
 
About 30 former players, coaches and staff members, along with a larger contingent of parents, husbands, partners and children, gathered for lunch at Prather Coliseum and introductions during halftime of the current Lady Demons' contest against New Orleans, a thrilling 95-93 NSU win.
 
Pierson was one of the 13 original athletic scholarship recipients of the trailblazing 1975-76 team, and soon after graduation became head coach. From 1979-87, she went 166-88 in nine seasons, winning three straight Gulf Star Conference championships and reaching the championship game of the 1986 National Women's Invitational Tournament, beating Duke in the semifinals.
 
She also brought in Smith as her assistant coach in 1980.  When Pierson was hired away by East Carolina, he took over and won 340 games in 17 seasons while taking NSU to four more postseason tournaments, including the 1990 and 2004 NCAA Tournament, and a 1995 NIT finals appearance.
 
Although some Lady Demon alumni met for the first time, they all shared a strong bond. While many teammates have stayed in contact after leaving NSU, especially with the advent of social media, Amanda Bennett Aguilar said the reunion was a precious opportunity.
 
"No matter what decade we played in, we have that connection," said the sweet-shooting 3-point bomber who starred from 2001-05. "Even if we didn't know each other personally, getting the chance to come together as former Lady Demons, most of us being coached by Coach Smith and having similar experiences, it's a blessing to look back and remember. Now that we have different lives and responsibilities, we don't get to relive these days too often, so today is a blessing."
 
Aguilar and teammate Ashley Sparkman traveled from the Dallas metroplex, as they have consistently the past several years for smaller reunions held in conjunction with the men's basketball gathering on the season's final Saturday. This year, new head coach Jordan Dupuy wanted to honor his predecessors, Pierson and Smith, and with the blessing of men's coach Mike McConathy he slated the women's reunion a week earlier.
 
The alumni gathered for a photo with the 2016-17 Lady Demons after the game and signed a pillar in the redesigned locker room. They enjoyed an exciting, fast-paced contest reminiscent of the high-scoring style that Pierson and Smith oversaw for three decades.
 
Sparkman, the school career record-holder with 277 blocks who now is a practicing pediatric therapist, said the alumni enjoyed watching today's team nearly as much as rekindling memories.
 
"College is a time that shapes you and the person you're becoming. For us, it was a good season of life, and provided a foundation for what we're doing today," she said. "We still love basketball, and the Lady Demons, so to come back and watch this year's team and remember the really good memories we have here is special."
 
Pierson, who lives in Natchitoches and attends nearly all the home games with her husband Joe, was deeply touched by the turnout of alumni, and the chance to visit with Smith and his wife, Susan.
 
"It's a tremendous honor to think of all the years that have gone by, and to see so many of the players here today because being a Lady Demon means so much to them. We had wonderful players, and wonderful ladies go through this program, and a great person by my side," she said. "James has been such a special person, a wonderful coach, and he picked up the reigns when I left and made it even better."
 
After the luncheon, Smith sat with Pierson and watched the first home Lady Demon game he's seen in person in more than a decade, although he stays current on the program and all of NSU Athletics.
 
"Today is just unreal," he said. "You go all the way back to the 1970s, the beginning of the program, and some of those are here with us. It's great to see the players' families and hear how they've been doing. They're all now past their athletic prime but they're into marriage and children and making us proud in so many ways."
 
For Dupuy, the game's thrilling outcome and the sight of the alumni signing the pillar in the locker room afterward was a dream come true.
 
"This has absolutely been a perfect day for our Lady Demon program," he told his team and the alumni jammed into the locker room afterwards. "To see the laughing and storytelling from the former players and coaches at lunch, and then to win, and win like that, was huge for our girls.
 
"At halftime, when we were down, I had heard all the stories being told at the reunion, some from quite a few years ago, and I challenged our team, 'are you going to be 20, 25 years down the line, able to talk about this game today?' I think beyond a shadow of a doubt we will all recall this game years from now."