NATCHITOCHES – Northwestern State will close out its three-game home stand on Tuesday evening looking for its second straight win to close out the first month of the season. 
 
The Demons (1-4) host Southern-New Orleans in their third all-time meeting, the first since the 2009-10 season, with the Knights on ESPN+ beginning at 6:30 p.m.
 
The NSU women's basketball food drive will continue during the game allowing fans to bring non-perishable food items to the game that will be donated to the NSU food bank once the drive concludes following the Dec. 6 game against Tarleton.
 
NSU is looking to parlay its dominant second-half performance in Saturday's 82-41 over Arkansas Baptist into longer in-game success which will ideally breed more success through the season.
 
While not a disappointing start to the game on Saturday, as NSU led from the opening tipoff and opening shot, the noticeable difference in performance and production from the first 20 minutes to the second is something head coach Anna Nimz wants to see from the very start.
 
"We played a tremendous second half on Saturday," Nimz said. "We want to keep building on that and turn that into three quarters and two full halves of good basketball. That starts with being more consistent with the execution of our scouts, on both the offensive and defensive ends. We had that over most of that final 20 minutes against Arkansas Baptist but want to see it from the start of the game as well. If we can do that and maintain that fight and grit we saw as well, we're going to continue to get better and better as the season goes."
 
The Demons pulled down 25 offensive rebounds in the game, the most in a game in two seasons, and outscored the Buffaloes 51-18 in the second half. It was the most points scored in the second half of a game since the 2018-19 season.
 
Sharna Ayres' 15-point third quarter led the way for the Demons in the offensive onslaught as she secured her third straight double-digit scoring effort of the season, thanks to three or more made 3-pointers in each of those outings.
 
Ayres was scoreless entering the half on seven attempts but exploded for 15 in the quarter on 4-of-5 shooting from the field making 3-of-4 from beyond the arc.
 
"I noticed that I was rushing my shot a little in the first half," Ayres said after the game on Saturday. "I just needed to take my time with it and they started falling." 
 
She leads the team in scoring through the first five game at 12.4 per game, the seventh highest average in the Southland Conference. Along with Jiselle Woodson, the Demons have two players ranked in the top four in the conference in made 3-pointers per game with Ayres at 2.4 and Woodson at 2.0.
 
The Knights bring their own deep threat to the game in the way of their top scorer Jordan Harris. She is averaging 15.0 points per game and converting nearly 40 percent of her shots from beyond the arc.
 
In the Knights' game at Nicholls earlier this season, Harris scored 23 of SUNO's 52 points going 5-for-8 from beyond the arc in the game and 7-for-14 from the field. She was held to just nine points in their loss to Southeastern.