NATCHITOCHES – Northwestern State turned the tables on Saturday afternoon avenging a 10-point loss to rival McNeese with a 10-point victory on senior day in Prather Coliseum.
 
The Lady Demons (7-17, 4-11 SLC) had four players, three of them seniors, finish with double-digit points in a 70-60 defeat of the Cowgirls (5-18, 2-12 SLC). It was the third time this season NSU had four players reach double digits and the second time scoring 70 or more points in a game.
 
"We want them to continue to gain confidence offensively," interim head coach Aaron Swinson said. "The practice we had before this game was different. Much more like that one we had before Houston Baptist than the one before UIW. That's the way we want to do it every single game."
 
Building off the game plan from the first meeting was key for NSU, with some minor tweaks to get the win on the final Saturday home game.
 
"We had a different game plan today," interim head coach Aaron Swinson said. "The game plan we had down there was great but something we didn't execute well. We did a lot of the same things today but added a couple things on offense and defense that helped us a lot."
 
Part of that game plan was to make McNeese play defense and limit the effectiveness of Cowgirls' forward Damilola Balogun. The Lady Demons did just that, holding the leading scorer and rebounder to seven points and seven rebounds on the night.
 
"We wanted to get her to play more defense," Swinson said. "We had some plays we wanted to run against her, and it helped. Once they saw that we had the advantage and executed it we were able to have success."
 
After a close first five minutes with the Lady Demons leading 10-9 following a layup and free throw from Kira Bonner, McNeese put together the first real run of the game to pull away slightly.
 
Balogun answered Bonner's three-point play with one of her own and the Cowgirls scored 10 straight to take their biggest lead of the game 19-10 with 2:13 left in the opening quarter. 
 
Down by seven early in the second, senior Jocelyn Scott, who made her first start of the season, drained a jumper starting a 5-0 NSU swing to cut the lead down to a pair. The offense stalled out for both teams the rest of the half, but the Lady Demons carried the momentum into the break on Tristen Washington's game-tying, buzzer-beating 3-pointer that made it a 29-29 game.
 
The strategy early for McNeese in the second half was feed the ball to Balogun down low. Two baskets on the first three touches gave her four of her seven total points. The Lady Demons stuck to their game plan. Thanks to some foul trouble, Balogun became a near non-factor from midway through the third until the end.
 
Victoria Miller converted back-to-back layups after a McNeese 3-pointer gave them a 43-36 lead. Bonner tied the game with 2:50 left on a 3-ball after stout defensive play kept the Cowgirls off the scoreboard for nearly four straight minutes.
 
The game remained tied at the end of the third thanks to a last second layup from McNeese that evened the score at 47.
 
With the game potentially going either way entering the fourth, the Lady Demon seniors took firm control of the final 10 minutes. NSU scored 23 points in the decisive quarter, all but five coming from the class of 2020.
 
Jasmyn Johnson gave NSU a lead they would not relinquish on the opening shot of the quarter, a 3-pointer from the left wing, sparking a 9-2 run to begin the quarter. 
 
After a Washington trey made it an eight-point game, Scott made consecutive jumpers that put NSU up by 12 with 4:38 left, the signature moment for the Lady Demons as they placed the final nail in the senior day win.
 
McNeese made failed attempts at a comeback, each time stymied by an NSU shot or free throws maintaining the double-digit advantage the rest of the way.
 
"They came out and played hard," Swinson said. "I told them to take one possession at a time, get a stop here and there, let's convert on our end and you never know what can happen."
 
Miller turned in her second double-double of the season with 12 points and 11 rebounds. Johnson, Bonner and Washington also finished in double digits with NSU committing a season-low 13 turnovers.
 
The Lady Demons travel to Nicholls looking for a season sweep of the Colonels.
 
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