LAKE CHARLES –Twice in three games against McNeese, Nautica Grant has turned in a career-high scoring effort.
 
In the second of those career-best performances, Grant set a tremendously high bar to top, delivering a sizzling 34-point performance in an 82-63 Northwestern State victory on Jan. 5 inside Prather Coliseum.
 
Grant and her Lady Demons teammates will get a chance to reprise those exploits at 1 p.m. Saturday when they wrap up the two-game season series against the rival Cowgirls at the new Health and Human Performance Complex on the McNeese campus.
 
Saturday's game can be heard on 100.7 FM KZBL in Natchitoches and on the Demon Sports Network. Streaming audio is available on www.NSUDemons.com/watch and through the new Northwestern State Athletics mobile app, which is available for download through the Apple Store or Google Play. Tony Taglavore, in his 11^th season, will have the play-by-play call of the game.
 
Grant's dead-eye performance – she hit 8 of 13 shots, 6 of 9 3-pointers and 12 of 13 free throws – highlighted a two-week stretch in which the left-hander from Dallas averaged 20 points per game, shooting 60 percent (24 for 40) from the field and 62.5 percent (15 for 24) from 3-point range.
 
"That's what we need from her," said third-year head coach Jordan Dupuy, whose team enters Saturday's rematch 7-14 overall and 2-8 in Southland Conference play. "We need her outside ability, her rhythm shooting. It extends the defense and opens the paint."
 
Following her 24-point performance against Abilene Christian on Jan. 19, Grant did not score in double figures again until Wednesday night when she had a team-high 15 points in an 84-73 loss at New Orleans.
 
In a sense, Grant has embodied the Lady Demons' season and what Dupuy said his team needs against the Cowgirls (5-15, 3-6).
 
"It doesn't matter what area it is – defense, rebounding, offensive efficiency – consistency has to be the word they hear," Dupuy said.
 
A win against the Cowgirls would give Northwestern State its first victory in Lake Charles since Feb. 3, 2010, and its first season sweep of McNeese since that season. It would come in the Lady Demons' first visit to the new Health & Human Performance Complex on McNeese's campus.
 
To pull off the sweep and make up ground in the race for a Southland Conference Tournament berth, the Lady Demons will have to do so against a much different McNeese team than the one they defeated in January.
 
Since dropping their first four conference games, the Cowgirls have gone 3-2 in their five most recent games, starting a three-game win streak with a 69-68 win at Nicholls on Jan. 16. Included in that run were McNeese's first two conference wins in their new home – 62-56 vs. Southeastern Louisiana on Jan. 19 and 81-71 against Houston Baptist on Jan. 26.
 
"They're playing extremely confidently," Dupuy said. "They've always played hard and physical and have been known for their prowess on the defensive end. They're a great rebounding team. When you defend, rebound and play tough, you can get it turned around.
 
"They're doing what they need to do to keep them in games and win games. We have to understand we're playing a different team Saturday."