MANHATTAN, Kan. – The days surrounding Thanksgiving center around spending time with friends and family. That is exactly what Northwestern State has planned for the next week as it embarks on a week-long road trip into Kansas and ending in Arkansas.

The first stop in the journey takes the Lady Demons (3-1) to Kansas State (5-1) for an 11 a.m. game against the Wildcats on Saturday. The game will air on Big 12 Now on ESPN+ with live streaming audio available at www.nsudemons.com, on the NSU Athletics mobile app, a free download via either the Apple or Google stores, or on locally on 95.9 FM Kix Country.

The Lady Demons will spend more than a week together on the bus and in hotels from the time they left campus on Thursday morning to the time they return the following Friday. While the games and opponents along the way take the bulk of the focus, the connections within the team have a chance to grow that much stronger.

"It's a lot of time on the road together and I think we can capitalize on what it could mean for our team," head coach Anna Nimz said. "Obviously, we're going to face three big-time opponents, and I think that is something that is going to help us grow, and it's going to make us grow together.

"It's fun being the underdog and go show what you're made of. I think it will be good for them to go through that and have some lag time where we can do some things off the court that are the fun team-building things. I'm excited to beat some of them in "Sorry!", maybe some spoons and excited to teach them some old-school games."

Making her first major trip as a Lady Demon, and the closest to her home state of Iowa, freshman guard Josie Fleischmann is looking forward to what the coming week holds, and taking on her head coach in any number of board games.

"We're all really excited to spend a lot of time together this week and make some fun memories on the court and off the court," she said. "We've got some big games coming up and I think we're all excited to see how well we can compete together, and I think our chemistry off the floor will translate into each of the games."

Fleischmann added that she was excited about the opportunity to play in front of family in a "fun game and atmosphere," something that Nimz also relishes as she returns to her home state for the first time as a Division I head coach.

"It's fun," she said. "My mom and dad don't get a big opportunity to get down to Louisiana. It's a surreal opportunity to get to go home and finally play in front of them. One of these days I'd rather them all come here and watch us on our home court, but I'm just really blessed. My family supports me tremendously and being able to go home and get a hug after a game from my mom and dad and all my family means a lot."

As the familial feeling continues to grow off the court, the results on the court continue to pay dividends, even through the small sample size of the first four games.

Battling through adversity on the road at Grambling and responding to early challenges in wins against Texas A&M-Texarkana and Louisiana Christian have been significant growth points early in the season. NSU will encounter even more growth and development points across this trip beginning with Saturday's game.

Kansas State has one of the top players in the country patrolling the basket in 6-foot-6 Ayoka Lee who is averaging over 26 points a game, is second in the country in blocked shots (19) and third in total rebounds (68). The maturation over the past three games of their freshman guard and her conference-leading 32 assists have made the Wildcats an even more dynamic opponent.

"They've gotten better every single game and continuing to grow in every facet of what that program is trying to do," Nimz said. "The idea that we can just pack it into the paint is not going to necessarily be true so we're going to have to be able to play inside-out.

"I think the biggest opportunity for us there is simply understanding that even if they do get a couple of shots don't all of the sudden give up on the game plan. Stick to the plan, sell out to it, stick together, fight for it and let's see where the cards fall."