NATCHITOCHES – For the first time in a month Northwestern State did not board a bus, check in at a hotel or watch film in a conference room once across a seven-day stretch. Playing seven of the next eight games at home presents plenty of opportunity for the light bulb to finally spark for the NSU women.

 

The Lady Demons (0-12, 0-7 SLC) begin their month of home cooking inside Prather Coliseum on Saturday afternoon against Houston Baptist (6-5, 2-2 SLC). Tipoff is set for 1 p.m. and can be heard locally on 92.3 FM with live streaming video and audio available at www.nsudemons.com or on the NSU Athletics mobile app, a free download in either the Apple or Google stores.

 

Fans in attendance are asked to wear a mask and maintain appropriate social distancing while inside the area.

 

It was a tough January for the Lady Demons. A new team with a new coaching staff asked to play in a new area every week through the first half of the conference schedule. Despite all the challenges that presented the team, the process that first-year head coach Anna Nimz continues to believe in has created moments that she hopes pays off over the next eight games.

 

"We have to find a way to continue to get them to believe in themselves," Nimz said. "Continue to let them buy in to what we're doing here. It's not a quick fix, but there are things that we're doing well that we have to really try to capitalize on. 

 

"We have small victories in a lot of different games, but it's February and it's time for us to put all those good things together for a game. Like I've talked about before, having that "ah-ha" moment."

 

Whether it was cutting their turnover margin in half from one game to the next or running the dribble-motion offense at its peak effectiveness with an assist on every basket, or simply giving full effort for a quarter or two, the small victories are beginning to add up for this NSU team.

 

Victories within the game that Nimz hopes turns into a victory or two at the end of the game.

 

"We've grown since that first game," Nimz said. "We're playing a little bit better basketball in the first quarter, first half. We have to continue to believe in our self, grow from the games we've had and know that we still have room to get better. 

 

"I think we saw the best from a lot of the teams we've played, but they haven't seen our best. So I hold out hope, and try and encourage the girls to do the same, that they haven't seen our best and we still have something to give and still have something to earn."

 

The basket hasn't been kind to the Lady Demons of late, shooting less than 30 percent from the field in each of the last two games. Scoring slumps in the second quarter at Central Arkansas and in the final minutes of the fourth quarter at New Orleans turned close games into run away victories.

 

Playing at home however, on the rims and court where they practice daily, stands to give the Lady Demons a needed burst of energy. It also gives them a chance to be a different, better team than they were the first time around.

 

"I don't think anybody we've played in the first run through as really seen us," Nimz said. "They've seen us in spurts and that's not a lot to go on trying to compile a scout. We've seen a lot of the strengths and weaknesses of our opponents and I think a lot of schools have just capitalized on our weaknesses. They haven't seen the best version of NSU women's basketball, we want to capitalize on that."