NATCHITOCHES – While the date, time, location and opponent for the Northwestern State women's basketball season opener might have changed, the feeling of beginning a new year remains the same.
 
"It's still excitement," first-year head coach Anna Nimz said. "We're excited to finally have the opportunity to get on the court. It's been a long haul. The girls have worked, and we've had to make plenty of adjustments.
 
"A few more things happen along the way, and we have to adjust again. We've talked about it a lot this year, but at the end of the day it's about flexibility. We're nailing that. We're just excited about the opportunity to play on Saturday."
 
The 2020-21 season, and the Nimz era of Lady Demon basketball, finally tips off on Saturday afternoon at 1 p.m. against former Southland foe ULM (1-2) at Prather Coliseum.
 
The game can be heard locally on 92.3 FM The Fox in Natchitoches with live streaming audio and subscription video available at www.nsudemons.com. Fan can also follow the action on the NSU Athletics mobile app, which is available for download in the Apple or Google stores.
 
With just hours until tipoff at Ole Miss, the Lady Demons had to cancel their season opener because of COVID-19 concerns. The subsequent pause in team activities forced the cancelations of games at Grambling and the original home opener against LeTourneau.
 
"This year in particular, any game you get to play is a blessing and an amazing opportunity," Nimz said." The games that you don't get to play – it's unfortunate – but it's all about focusing on the positive this season, more than any other season. 
 
"We really worked on that and tried to see the positive in a tough situation because, at the end of the day, it's the situation you're in. We say all the time it's not about the situation, it's how you handle it. I think they have been relatively resilient in that."
 
Now with the Lady Demons able to play, they have the opportunity to begin the season on their home floor as fans get their first chance to see what the 2020-21 version of the team brings to the table.
 
With team activities put on pause for two weeks, the Lady Demons had limited time this week to knock off any rust while preparing for the Warhawks. Individual and small group work were the avenues early before full team practices resumed on Wednesday.
 
"The biggest thing for us was getting our bodies back into condition," Nimz said. "Even when you take one or two days off your body feels it. Your ball handling is a little less tight, your shot falls short a little because of your legs being tired.
 
"So we've just focused on trying to get our bodies back in a quick but safe manner. We've done a lot of small group work and really focusing on conditioning and really just letting them be in the gym and getting back used to it."
 
ULM enters the game after a 66-42 home loss to Grambling on Thursday night. The Warhawks shot 50 percent in their win against Louisiana College on Sunday but followed up with a 26 percent outing against the Tigers.
 
Despite the cold shooting effort, the always physical Warhawks won the rebounding battle for the second game in a row and have blocked 12 shots total in those same two games.
 
"We've just got to have a ton of focus and discipline," Nimz said. "We've had to work on our scout and do a review of everything that we've put in since August in a short amount of time. So, we have to have even more focus and our execution has to be at a high level."