SAN ANTONIO – Well rested after nearly a week off, the Northwestern State women's basketball team should have a little extra in the tank as the home stretch of the Southland Conference season.
 
The Lady Demons tip off their final road trip of the season – a two-game swing – with a 6:30 p.m. Southland Conference tip Thursday at Incarnate Word, playing for the first time in six days.
 
The game can be heard on 100.7 FM KZBL in Natchitoches and on the Demon Sports Network. Streaming audio is available at www.NSUDemons.com/watch and through the new Northwestern State Athletics mobile app, which can be downloaded through the Apple Store or Google Play. Tony Taglavore, in his 11^th season, will handle the play-by-play call of the game.
 
Northwestern State (9-16, 4-10) has not played since defeating Houston Baptist, 63-46, on Feb. 23. In addition to carrying the momentum from that victory with them, the Lady Demons are playing their first road game since an 89-73 win at McNeese. The win against the Cowgirls snapped a 22-game road skid for Northwestern State.
 
Even with a double dose of momentum, the Lady Demons have the same singular focus they have held for the first 25 games of the 2018-19 campaign.
 
"There is some momentum there from a confidence standpoint, but we just concentrate on the next task at hand," third-year head coach Jordan Dupuy said. "Each game is a must win for us if we plan on going to Katy. We can't worry about things that are in the past, because each game is different, therefore the preparation is different."
 
The Cardinals (3-22, 3-11) present a much different look than the one the Lady Demons see in practice.
 
UIW ranks 13^th in the 13-team conference in scoring at 54.8 points per game and does not have a player averaging double figures in scoring this season. Versatile guard Imani Robinson, a preseason first-team All-Southland Conference selection, paces the Cardinals at 9.0 points per game.
 
Northwestern State, meanwhile, ranks fifth in the conference in scoring at 68.5 points per game and wants to play at a faster tempo.
 
"Tempo always will be key," Dupuy said. "We have to draw that tempo from our defense and allow it to create offense on the other end. I want us to play aggressive for 40 minutes."
 
The Lady Demons led the nation in forcing turnovers for much of the season and rank third in that category through Sunday. Northwestern State returned to its swarming defense against Houston Baptist, forcing 31 turnovers and allowing a season low in points against a Division I team.
 
The win against Houston Baptist kept the Lady Demons two games out of the eighth spot in the Southland standings. The top eight teams in the league advance to the conference tournament next month in Katy, Texas.
 
Jasmyn Johnson paced the Lady Demons in the win against Houston Baptist, scoring a season-high 19 points. It marked the second straight game in which Johnson led the team in scoring, doing so as an off-the-bench energizer.
 
After a slow start to conference play in which she did not score in double figures in the first seven conference games, Johnson has averaged 9.4 points per game in the past seven conference games. Starting with a 15-point performance against New Orleans on Jan. 30, Johnson has shot 40 percent from 3-point range (12-for-30) in the past six games.
 
"Jasmyn has been confident in games because she has practiced so well lately," Dupuy said. "I've always known what Jas was capable of on the court. She's just relaxed and played with confidence. If she makes a mistake, I just tell her to move on to the next play, and she's done that. We need her to continue it so we can play in Katy."