ITTA BENA, Miss. – Under constant defensive pressure and facing the most adversity it had seen all season, Northwestern State got the plays, and free throws, it needed down the stretch to escape with a 78-71 overtime win at Mississippi Valley State.

No bigger moments came for the Lady Demons (5-3) than the 11 clutch free throws, on 11 attempts, from Candice Parramore in the fourth quarter and overtime that sealed the win. Parramore's 10 overtime points were just one of the long list of critical plays that were needed and made on a frustrating night.

"Don't think it was our best played game," head coach Anna Nimz said. "But to hit that much adversity all game, and we didn't help ourselves with the 35 turnovers, I'm so proud of them. A lot of teams would have thrown in the towel. If we can have that kind of mental toughness and play through situations like that on the road in a tough environment, when we're playing better basketball what they're capable of is endless."

Early adversity hit the Lady Demons when starter Sharna Ayers went down with an injury two minutes into the game. In a game that had a total of 50 fouls called, four players foul out and five other finish with four fouls, losing a starter became the first hurdle NSU had to overcome.

Relentless pressure from the Valley (0-7) defense frustrated the Lady Demons from the very beginning to the tune of 35 turnovers, by far the most in a game this season, with six in the first five minutes of the game. NSU started the day making 4-of-5 from the field but trailed 10-9 midway through the period.

With 1:44 left in the quarter, JaMiya Braxton drilled a 3 to tie the game at 13 and Erin Harris pushed the Lady Demons ahead with a free throw with 48 seconds left for the 14-13 lead after the opening frame.

Offense was at a premium for the majority of the second quarter however as Valley made an opening 3-pointer then went scoreless for the next five minutes while the Lady Demons got five quick points from Braxton before a two -minute drought of their own.

Right after the long 9-0 run that gave NSU a 23-16 lead, Valley immediately closed the gap with consecutive 3s to make it a one-point game. A Josie Fleischmann triple with 2:03 left in the half gave the Lady Demons a five-point edge but were the final points of the half as Valley made a pair of layups and a free throw to even the game at 28 going to the break.

Like she did in the third quarter at Arkansas State, Parramore dropped in three straight buckets early in the frame fueling an 8-0 NSU run that put it ahead 36-31. The next big shot came with 2:50 left in the quarter as neither team could establish any rhythm on offense. Fleischmann drained a 3 after an Erin Harris steal to make it 40-38. Valley answered with a triple of their own on the next possession to finish the scoring in the quarter with 2:27 left.

Down by four early in the fourth quarter, one of the pivotal sequences of the night led to Parramore's big finish. She drew the fifth foul of the quarter with 7:24 left in the game ensuring the Lady Demons would shoot free throws with every subsequent infraction. Parramore made the two freebies on that trip and NSU went 15-for-19 the rest of the way.
Parramore made another free throw after driving and scoring and Monette Bolden hit a jumper with 5:05 left that put NSU up 52-47, part of a flurry of scoring that eventually ended with 56-54 NSU lead after a Jasmin Dixon layup.

One of NSU's rare misses from the line in the final seconds opened the door for Valley as time ticked down. A 3 pointer with 16 seconds left tied the game at 62 sending things to overtime with the Lady Demons unable to get a shot off for the chance at the win.

Tied at 71 with 1:26 the pivotal sequence of the game began with an off-balance shot falling for Karmelah Dean. After a Valley miss on the other end, a strong rebound from Dixon led to the quick transition bucket from Parramore ahead of the defense. The Lady Demons repeated the play again with Bolden skying for the rebound on the second trip to push NSU ahead 77-71 with 39 second to go.

"That's Lady Demon basketball," Nimz said. "We try to play a lot in transition offense and for a few minutes we were really able to play our style of basketball and it's what won them the game. It takes everybody sprinting the court to draw the defense out and it gets easy in tough games like this to jog or get in your feelings, but they kept playing."
Valley missed a late 3-point attempts and Jiselle Woodson sealed the game with a steal with 23 seconds left.

Parramore scored a career-high 23 points, 11 coming from the charity stripe, with Bolden the only other player to reach double figures at 11 points. She added six rebounds and four assists to her night as well. Jordan Todd ended the night with 13 rebounds and Dixon finished with 11 to lead all rebounders.

"Players stepped up and made plays," Nimz said. "Jas had an incredible overtime period and C.P. went 11-for-11 from the line and a lot of those came down the stretch in the fourth quarter and overtime. We had some real tough turnovers, some real big adversity but at the end of the day they made a run at the end of overtime and they're going to go home with a win."