THIBODAUX – The Northwestern State women's basketball team didn't equal its turnover total from the first meeting of the season with Nicholls.
Still, the multitude of mistakes by the Lady Demons added up to an 85-53 Southland Conference loss to the homestanding Colonels on Wednesday night at Stopher Gymnasium.
"We didn't play with any pride tonight, any passion," second-year head coach
Jordan Dupuy said. "That's what we talked about before the game. Our theme for this game was to have no regrets. Honestly, there's no one who can have that mentality. They beat us to every loose ball. They wanted to play, and they played hard."
The Lady Demons (7-21, 2-15) dropped their seventh straight game thanks in large part to 24 turnovers, which led to a 21-12 advantage in points off turnovers for Nicholls (15-13, 10-7). In the first meeting between the teams on Dec. 28, the Lady Demons surrendered 31 turnovers.
The Colonels also controlled the glass, outrebounding Northwestern State by 21, grabbing 21 offensive rebounds.
"It's a will; it's mental toughness," Dupuy said of rebounding. "That kind of explains what we've been fighting all year. It's right there in the statistics."
While Nicholls won most of the loose balls Wednesday night, the Colonels also executed sharply on offense. Nicholls shot 57.1 percent from the field in the first half to open a 22-point lead at halftime.
In games against New Orleans and Southeastern Louisiana, the Lady Demons were able to slow Randi Brown and Taylin Underwood, two of the Southland's top scorers. Northwestern State had little answer for the SLC's third-leading scorer, Cassidy Barrios, on Wednesday.
Barrios finished with game highs in points (17), rebounds (11), steals (5) and blocks (3), producing her second double-double in two meetings with Northwestern State this season.
She led four Colonels in double figures, joining Tia Charles (16), Tykeria Williams (15) and Marina Lilly (12).
Jocelyn Scott followed up her career-high 26-point performance against Southeastern Louisiana on Saturday by leading Northwestern State with 15 points while
Libba Gilliam added 11.
Freshman forward
Lacee Savage scored seven points and grabbed a team-leading six rebounds for the Lady Demons. Additionally, Savage handed out a career-high three assists to pace Northwestern State.
"She was a bright spot," Dupuy said. "I can live with some of the mistakes she made, because she was playing hard. She was playing aggressive. There are times where she doesn't know what to do, but she's going hard in doing it. We played a lot of people a lot of minutes tonight. We're going to continue to develop our young people, and Lacee has a lot of bright moments ahead."
The Lady Demons conclude their season at 3 p.m. Saturday, facing two-time defending Southland champion Central Arkansas in Conway.
