NACOGDOCHES, Texas – One week after a needed win, Northwestern State returns to the court Wednesday night against one of the top teams in the Southland Conference.
 
The Lady Demons (5-11, 2-5 SLC) travel to rival Stephen F. Austin (13-3, 6-1) with hopes of picking up a signature win nearing the midway point of the conference season.
 
Tipoff is set for 6:30 p.m. with live audio available in Natchitoches on 92.3 FM The Fox or worldwide at www.nsudemons.com or on the NSU athletics mobile app, which is available for download through the Apple Store or Google Play.
 
"It's another typical SFA team," fourth-year head coach Jordan Dupuy said. "They do all things extremely well. They execute and have a counter to anything that you may do. We're going to have to continue to play aggressive."
 
That aggression has been evident for NSU over the past couple of games. Winning the rebound battle for the second time on the season led to the 58-54 win against Nicholls a week ago. The uptick in play around the basket from the likes of Leilani Moncrease, who came off the bench much of the season but made her first start against Nicholls, has been key to the change.
 
Dupuy hopes the aggression will continue and lead to more scoring chances. Something that has and continues to plague the team.
 
"We've got to get better production from our bench," Dupuy said. "When we sub, we can't have a drop off. We need to stay aggressive and that no matter who is on the floor we're attacking the rim.
 
"We have to control the things that we can control and just be more consistent. Like I always say it starts in practice. Whatever you do in terms of preparation is going to carry over into the game."
 
Kira Bonner has been the most consistent scorer for the Lady Demons this season. The senior has reached double figures in each of the past four games, 13 times on the season and led NSU in scoring in 10 of the 16 games, by far the most on the team.
 
Despite the 14.1 points per game that Bonner is providing, the opportunity for more balanced and varied threats are there with every game.
 
"We run an offense where everyone can be a threat," Dupuy said. "We just have to be more confident when we shoot the ball. I don't want just one or two players to step up. I want everyone to step up and be a scoring threat on every catch and be confident in what we're asking them to do on the floor."
 
Stephen F. Austin is a prime example of varied scoring with three players putting in more than 11 points a game and the third best scoring offense in the league at 73.1 points per game. Combine that with the SLC's best scoring defense and you have a recipe for their success.
 
"We can't have scoring droughts like we've had," Dupuy said. "We've done that a lot this year. They're not going to do that. They're very versatile in what they do on both offense and defense."
 
"It's going to be a tough game. We have to go in with the mindset that we're already down 15 when the game starts. If we can continue turning defense into offense and avoid some scoring droughts, we can give ourselves a chance in the fourth quarter."
 
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