NATCHITOCHES – It took a little longer than it would have liked for Northwestern State to warm up from the cold and dreary outside conditions on Saturday afternoon. A sluggish start ended up costing the Lady Demons at the end of the day, falling to New Orleans 72-64.
 
"You can't do anything well in life without energy and it took us until the second half to get going and really have a spark," head coach Anna Nimz said. "Nobody's defense is good when you don't have energy, especially ours that we've been having some success with. We won the second half but hats off to UNO, they've been fighting tooth-and-nail in a lot of close games and earned one today against us.  
 
NSU (11-13, 4-9) wasn't the only team to get off to a sluggish to the game, as UNO (3-16, 2-10) was slow out of the gate as well. The Privateers knocked down a pair of 3-pointers and NSU equaled the six points with two field goals of its own and a pair of free throws. Those were the only field goals in the first six and a half minutes of the game. The teams combined to go 4-for-15 to start the game in a low-scoring first quarter.
 
The Privateers began to heat up however at the end of the frame and ended with a 7-0 run that turned into a 13-0 stretch carried into the second quarter, a nearly seven-minute period without a bucket for the Lady Demons.
 
Just 30 seconds after UNO had built its largest lead of the half (28-11), a corner 3 from JaMiya Braxton sparked a flurry of scoring on both sides over the final 3:46 of the half.
 
Braxton's triple came after an offensive rebound and Jordan Todd found second-chance points of her own on the next trip for the first five of NSU's 15 points to end the half.
 
Candice Parramore scored all eight of her second-quarter points during the run, answering UNO baskets with a pair of 3s and two free throws with 4.2 seconds left to close the gap to 35-26 by the half. Parramore's free throws were set up by a pickpocket steal from Monette Bolden as UNO was playing for the final shot.
 
NSU went 5-for-8 from the field during the stretch while UNO was 3-for-5 and scored seven points.
 
As the second half began, the Lady Demons continued their blistering shooting in the third quarter. NSU made five of its first eight shots to start the half, but the trend that dominated the rest of the game became evident.
 
Each point that NSU scored on its end, UNO found a way to match on its. The nine-point halftime deficit stayed at nine at the midway point after a Candice Parramore 3-pointer was immediately answered by the Privateers.
 
UNO stretched its lead back to 13 with 2:31 left in the third, but Alecia Whyte scored a pair of layups in the final minute to bolster a 6-2 NSU finish and make it a 53-43 game entering the fourth quarter.
 
The Privateers pushed the lead to its biggest of the night (61-46) early in the fourth on a quick 6-0 run. Jiselle Woodson knocked down a jumper near the free throw line to end the short run and start one for the Lady Demons.
 
The 8-2 NSU run, fueled by consecutive three-point plays from Parramore and Jordan Todd, got it back to single digits. The Lady Demons made it a two-possession game (65-59) less than two minutes later after two offensive rebounds on the same trip and a put back layup from Whyte.
 
A foul on a defensive rebound and missed 3-pointer for NSU led to the UNO dagger with less than two minutes to go. A turnover on the inbound play led to two Privateer free throws that pushed the lead back to nine.
 
That was the first of two turnovers in the final two minutes that led directly to UNO points, a stat that plagued the Lady Demons all night.
 
"They had 17 points off our turnovers and it's frustrating because they didn't press us, they didn't half court us, they sat in a 2-3 zone," Nimz said. "We got away with one last time when we had 26 turnovers and they only scored 11 points, today we had 16 and they scored 17."
 
Parramore matcher her career high with 23 points for the second straight game and Whyte barely missed her second double-double of the season with 15 points, a new NSU high, and nine rebounds. Bolden finished the game with 11 points, eight rebounds and six assists.
 
NSU closes the regular season next Saturday at home against Southeastern.