HAMMOND – The tests, challenges and growth that Northwestern State has seen and faced through the first 11 games of the season have led to this point, preparing it for the eight-week conference slate that begins Saturday.

The Lady Demons (7-4) start the journey towards March with preseason favorite to win the conference Southeastern (4-6) in a 1 p.m. tip on the road. 

The game can be heard on www.nsudemons.com/watch or on the NSU Athletics mobile app, a free download via either the Apple or Google stores. Video will also be available with a subscription on ESPN+.

The game will also be the "We Back Pat" contest dedicated to the fight against Alzheimer's disease in honor of legendary Tennessee coach Pat Summit. Both teams will wear special t-shirts during warmups and fans can find more information on We Back Pat, the research efforts and the disease itself at www.patsummitt.org. 

NSU enters the game having knocked the majority of a near months' worth of rust off with a 12-point win against a scrappy Champion Christian. The Lady Demons have learned plenty about themselves through the non-conference schedule and at least one more thing was added to the list on Tuesday.

"I think just an understanding that although we are a team that can score 10 quick points, we can also give up 10 quick points," head coach Anna Nimz said. "That's something we have to get corrected. I think they have a good recognition of that, and they were able to see it on. Just a general maturity and growth in the game."

After falling behind by as much as 12 in the first quarter, NSU rallied to within four by the end to take an early second-quarter lead. Champion closed the gap to tie it at the half and made another run late in the game to pull within single digits in the final minutes.

The Lady Demons got a spark from a Candice Parramore steal in the first to close the early deficit and throughout the first half saw the spark that Jiselle Woodson normally brings off the bench but in a starting role for the first time this season.

Woodson had been one of the first off the bench to that point but earned her way into a starting role and finished the game with a career high eight assists to go with her 18 points.

"It definitely helped build my confidence for sure," Woodson said about her time coming off the bench. "Coach always referred to me as her lightening bug, or something like that, off the bench so being able to take that same energy to start the game was good."

The Lady Demons will look to have that level of energy to start the game on Saturday as they take on a Lady Lion team that will be playing their first game in nearly a month as well due to several COVID cancelations.

"Starting off better and not as slow," Parramore said about what they learned from Tuesday's game that she hopes translates moving forward. "We weren't expecting to start off that way but sometimes you don't exactly know how things are going to go. I think we need to come out with better attitudes, more focused, ready to go and ready to play through that adversity that we know is going to hit."
Employing the same focus that Parramore does at the free throw line could carry the Lady Demons wherever they want to go.

As one of the best free throw shooters in the country, currently seventh overall with a 94 percent success rate, its not just her speed and quickness that the Lady Demons benefit from but her ability to be calm and perform in potentially pressure-packed scenarios.

"I usually shoot 25 free throws after practice no matter what," she said. "So, with that I think it's just confidence that I have when I get to the line. Once I know I'm going to be shooting everything else just kinds of shuts out and I focus completely on hitting the net. I do it so many times after practice that I'm really comfortable and confident going out there."

While the Lady Lions are only sending opponents to the stripe an average of 16.9 times per game, third best in the conference, it still presents an opportunity for the Lady Demons to use another of their strengths to pick up a road win in conference play.

SLU's top three scorers are the three players selected on the preseason all-conference team and with essentially everyone returning from a team that won 10 league games a year ago.
"We have to capitalize right from the jump and show them that we're prepared and we're ready for them," Nimz said. "We understood that we had a little rust on Tuesday because it's hard to simulate game activity in practice and the girls had only had a handful of team practices. 

Not what we wanted to see in some areas, sloppy a little bit but they did a good job and now that they've had that game and a couple of practices under their belt they're going to be ready to go. I'd like to see us playing and coming out the way we did at K-State, Wichita State and Arkansas State. That was some of our best basketball and it's time to get back to it."