FAYETTEVILLE, Arkansas – For the second straight season, the Northwestern State women's basketball team opens its season on the road against a Southeastern Conference team.
 
And when the Lady Demons face Arkansas at 10:30 a.m. Friday in the Razorbacks' annual Elementary Day game, Northwestern State is hoping time is on its side.
 
The game can be seen on SEC Network Plus, the streaming arm of the SEC Network, and it can be heard on 100.7 FM KZBL in Natchitoches as well as on www.NSUDemons.com.
 
"The best time to play these type of games and maybe pull off an upset, in my opinion, is early in the year," third-year head coach Jordan Dupuy said. "Arkansas is still going to be trying to find themselves, like we are. They've done a great job of scoring the basketball in their two exhibition games. They put up 115 points and 101 points, so that's a concern for us."
 
Friday marks the second straight season for Northwestern State to tip off a season in an SEC opponent's gym. The Lady Demons started the 2017-18 season with a 71-44 loss at Ole Miss.
 
Despite the score in that opening game, Dupuy saw a different attitude from his team, one he said he hopes to see Friday morning as well as on the 13 other road games on NSU's 2018-19 schedule.
 
"Any time we get on a bus and go play, the attitude is we're going to win," Dupuy said. "Give yourself a chance in the fourth quarter. Friday's going to be no different. It's going to be a definite challenge, but it's one we should be excited about. One that if you go and play well should lead to bigger and better things when you play your other opponents."
 
Consistency is a theme for Northwestern State, which lost just three players from its 2017-18 roster, only one of whom appeared in a post-December game.
 
In addition to the nine returning letterwinners from the 2017-18 roster, Northwestern State's backcourt should get a boost with the addition of Sami Thomas.
 
Thomas is expected to play Friday, which would mark her first game action since suffering a season-ending knee injury on Feb. 18, 2017. Thomas injured her knee midway through the fourth quarter of a 75-74 loss to Abilene Christian in which she scored 10 points and six assists.
 
That game was 630 days prior to Friday's season opener.
 
"The thing that she was able to do last year was she took almost the role of a coach," Dupuy said. "We put her in different situations in the office in practice preparation, game preparation, on the bench.
 
"The idea was, one, she wants to be a coach, but, two, you see things a little different. You understand the broad spectrum of everything. You put her in that position, she understands everyone's responsibilities. Her communication and understanding of what I want is so much better, and that has boosted her confidence, which in turn ups her production."
 
Two of Northwestern State's three Class of 2018 signees – junior college transfer Kira Bonner and freshman RaVon Nero -- are expected to make their Lady Demons debuts at Arkansas, joining NSU's veteran core.
 
"They've done a really good job for us in practice," Dupuy said. "They bring a lot of speed and the ability to score at all three levels and have done some good things defensively. Hopefully, this first game, they play calm, they're confident in their preparation and do what we ask them to do."