NATCHITOCHES – So far this year Northwestern State has responded well after a difficult game or tough situation, and it will need to heed that call again on Saturday.
 
The Lady Demons (9-6, 2-2) saw a 14-point fourth-quarter lead fade away on Thursday night against UIW as the offense could not buy a basket while the Cardinals scored the first 19 points of the period while collecting 10 of their 23 offensive rebounds in the game in the final 10 minutes.
 
"We have to have a short memory," head coach Anna Nimz said following Thursday's game. "We must all own the loss and commit to making corrections but it's about who can bounce back quicker. We can't point fingers or allow this loss to determine tomorrow's work."
 
Only one time this season have the Lady Demons lost consecutive games, at Kansas State and Wichita State. The time in late November when the team was still ironing out their play on the floor on a long road trip. The three games immediately following the other three losses have all gone NSU's way.
 
The response for NSU this time comes against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (11-7, 3-1) who sit second in the Southland Conference standings having had their six-game win streak snapped at Southeastern on Thursday night.
 
Tip-off is set for 1 p.m. inside Prather Coliseum, the first game of a Saturday doubleheader with the NSU men. Live video will be available at www.nsudemons.com/watch with free streaming audio also available on the NSU Athletics mobile app or on 95.9 FM Kix Country in the Natchitoches area.
 
The short memory the Lady Demons need going into Saturday's game is applies primarily to the already forgettable fourth quarter. The 30 minutes of game play prior were much more indicative of what they aim to see again against the Islanders.
 
NSU started hot in the first few minutes of both the first and second quarters, scoring on five of their first eight shots of the game with each conversion benefiting from an assist. They finished the first half with seven assists on 11 made baskets and a 30-18 lead.
 
Monette Bolden was a first -half catalyst for the Lady Demons scoring 10 points with four rebounds and four assists in the first 20 minutes. She finished the night with her third game this year scoring 10 or more points with five or more rebounds and five or more assists, going for 12, eight and six.
 
Her eight boards led NSU in the game, in a facet of the game that will no doubt play and even larger role on Saturday against the second-best rebounding team in the conference.
 
The Islanders average 40.8 rebounds per game and were have only been outrebounded by their opponents once in the past seven games, that coming on Thursday in Hammond. NSU is 7-0 this season when outrebounding its opponents.
 
Junior forward Alecia Westbrook leads their charge around the basket on both ends as the only player in the Southland averaging a double-double at this point in the season. For the year she is averaging 12.8 points and 11.2 rebounds and over the past three weeks is scoring 13.0 per game with 10.7 rebounds giving her two of the past three Player of the Week honors in the league.
 
After Thursday's loss at Southeastern, the Islanders are 1-6 on the road this year.