WICHITA, Kan. – There have been plenty of growth moments for Northwestern State through the first five games of the season. The Lady Demons saw another Saturday's loss at Kansas State, one they hope to build on heading into their next game.

After starting the past three games with less than desirable levels of aggression and intensity, NSU came out and took the game to K-State through the first 15 minutes and had a 13-11 lead after the first quarter.

The Lady Demons (3-2) will look to add on to that time as they face Wichita State (5-1) on ESPN+ beginning at 6 p.m. on Monday night.

The game can also be heard on 95.9 FM in Natchitoches with live streaming audio available at www.nsudemons.com or on the NSU Athletics mobile app, a free download via either the Apple or Google stores.

"It's learning how to sustain that energy we had at the beginning against K-State for a full 40 minutes," head coach Anna Nimz said. "Nobody is doing that in late November, but I told them if we can match that in the first half moving into one of these next two road games, we're going to get one. We just have to continue to grow."

If not for a scoring drought that began midway through the second quarter following a Candice Parramore jumper that tied the game at 18, the Lady Demons could have had even more confidence than it did going into half.
The Wildcats began to assert their size and effectiveness in the paint early in the second and carried that into a big second half, while turning up the defensive pressure to pull away for the big win. Those things, along with the scoring droughts NSU saw in second half were all forms of adversity that Nimz hopes the team learns and grows from moving forward.

Those are also things that proved the capabilities of a team that is still just five games into the season and learning each other's tendencies on the court.

"We have what it takes to compete at a very high level," Nimz said after the game at Kansas State. "Now it's continuing to get kids that might be in a slump at times to still believe in themselves. We've got some really good players and the shots just aren't falling like they're used to.

"When they hit though they're going to catch fire. We believe in our team and even for how well they played in that first half we have so many tools that haven't quite had that "ah-ha" moment yet. I'm excited for them and the program going in that direction when they do."

The test for the Lady Demons comes in the form of a Shocker team that has scored and average of 77.4 points in their five wins this season and eclipsed 85 in consecutive wins against Prairie View A&M and Alcorn State leading into Monday.

The bulk of their production has come around the basket with more than 45 points in the paint in each of their last three games. A total of 45 made free throws in the past two games certainly did not hurt the offensive output either.

Wichita State has two players averaging double-figure scoring through its first six games and six players averaging 8.5 point or more this season.