NATCHITOCHES – The Northwestern State women's basketball team is comfortable playing at home.
 
No one, however, has felt more at home during the past two home games than senior guard Nautica Grant.
 
As the Lady Demons prepare to host Southeastern Louisiana in the opener of a Southland Conference doubleheader at 1 p.m. Saturday in advance of NSU's annual Chili Cookoff, Grant will try to carry the momentum built across her past two Saturday home appearances.
 
In games against McNeese and Abilene Christian, Grant has averaged 29 points per game, connecting on 13 of 18 3-pointers (72.2 percent) and 15 of 23 shots overall (65.2 percent). Grant also has been brilliant at the line in those two games, sinking 15 of 16 free throws (93.8 percent).
 
"We haven't done anything differently to get those results," third-year head coach Jordan Dupuy said. "She's put in the extra time and the work. This is something we thought we could get for a while. Not necessarily 29 points per game, but the consistency from the perimeter. She's playing with a great rhythm right now. Her teammates are finding her. She's taking great shots.
 
"Shooters always think the next shot's going in, and that's where she is now."
 
The Lady Demons (6-11, 1-5) could use another big game for Grant as they try to snap a four-game losing streak. They will try to do so against a Southeastern Louisiana (8-9, 3-3) team that has typified the uncertainty of Southland Conference women's basketball in 2018-19.
 
The Lady Lions collected non-conference wins at SMU and against ULM but dropped a home game to non-Division I Xavier (New Orleans) and on the road at Alabama A&M.
 
In conference play, Southeastern Louisiana handed Abilene Christian its first league loss (74-71 on Jan. 12) before falling to McNeese, a team Northwestern Stated defeated by 19.
 
"The thing they're going to do is play extremely, extremely hard," Dupuy said. "They're going to put pressure on you in the half court. It's always a dogfight when we play them. (Coach) Ayla (Guzzardo) has done a great job building a culture that's based off defensive pressure. They're going to defend and play extremely hard, you can see that in their defeat of ACU. That was a great game to watch."
 
The Lady Lions already have equaled their win total from the 2017-18 season despite the loss of first-team All-Southland Conference guard Taylin Underwood.
 
A season ago, Underwood paced Southeastern in scoring, averaging 18.3 points per game. This season, Celica Sterling has taken the scoring reins from Underwood, averaging 16.3 points per game.
 
"Sometimes, it helps to lose a player like that," Dupuy said. "There's more balance in their attack. It doesn't matter who steps up and gets it done. When you have a player like that, sometimes people stand around and wait for her to make it happen.
 
"They're not doing that this year. Every player is a threat on every catch. That's why you see balance with them. Look at what we've done in the past, losing Beatrice (Attura) after our first season here. Now, we don't know who's going to step up for us. That's a good deal. When you have 11 or 12 players and anyone can be that player, it creates good vibes going into the game, and it creates better chemistry."
 
Saturday's game can be heard on 100.7 FM KZBL and through the Demon Sports Network. Streaming audio and video is available through www.NSUDemons.com/watch, which can be downloaded through Google Play or the Apple Store. Tony Taglavore, in his 11^th season, will handle the play-by-play call of the game.