NATCHITOCHES – Following a week-long trip in Texas, Northwestern State has a quick turnaround and are looking for refocused efforts after Friday's loss at No. 7 Baylor.
 
The Lady Demons (0-3) seek their first win of the Anna Nimz era as they take on Mississippi Valley State (1-2) on Sunday afternoon at Prather Coliseum.
 
Tipoff is set for 1 p.m. and can be heard on 92.3 FM The Fox with live streaming audio and subscription video available on www.nsudemons.com or the NSU Athletics mobile app, a free download from the Apple or Google stores.
 
"We want to see energy and effort," Nimz said. "It's imperative we tighten up offensively and defensively.
 
"Heading into our game on Sunday we are mainly focused on us. We will do practice, film and scout all while putting a big emphasis on the process. Execution and discipline need to remain at the forefront of our minds."
 
NSU suffered the largest margin of defeat in program history against Baylor due in large part to the rebounding and transition numbers the Lady Bears were able to produce.
 
Baylor out manned NSU on the glass 56-15 and scored 33 fast break points in their win, two areas Nimz wants to see immediate improvement in against Mississippi Valley.
 
"We knew winning the rebounding war against Baylor was unlikely," Nimz said. "But we need to refocus our efforts there. Transition defense effort is going to have to elevate as well for our game with MVSU."
 
The Devilettes held on for a 53-51 win at ULM in their most recent outing behind Zakiya Mahoney's 17-point, 10-rebound double-double. Although they lost the rebounding battle by one, Valley was good enough from the free throw line to get the win. They made 17-of-26 on the night, only sending ULM to the line 10 times.
 
Mahoney, a junior from Oakland, leads the team with a 15.7 point and 9.0 rebound per game average shooting 41 percent from the field and 91 percent from the free throw line.
  
"MVSU is a very talented team and have tremendous hard attack players," Nimz said. "We need to be able stay in front and force quick, poor shots. And then of course limit them to one and done on the offensive end."
 
Sunday's game is the final home contest in the 2020 portion of the schedule and the final home game for a month for NSU. The Lady Demons travel to #10 Texas A&M on Dec. 28 and opens conference play with four straight road games beginning Jan. 2 at Houston Baptist.