NATCHITOCHES – Plenty of defense, a second-half offensive turnaround and some clutch shots down the stretch helped Northwestern State secure a 59-51 win against Tarleton State on Wednesday night.
The Demons (4-4) have won four straight games for the first time since the 2015-16 season and earned their first four-game streak in non-conference play since 2005-06.
For the fourth straight game the NSU defense set the tone early. They held the best shooting team in the WAC to just nine made field goals and 24 total points. It was the fourth straight game holding their opponents to less than 25 points through the first 20 minutes of the game.
The Demons did not allow a field goal for the first 4:40 of the game.
Unfortunately, the Demon offense was unable to take full advantage on the other end, despite limiting themselves to eight turnovers, and trailing 24-23 at the break. No player for either team scored more than four points in the first half.
The second half was a far different story.
"Coming out of half time they were ready," head coach
Anna Nimz said. "They knew that it didn't fall for us in the first half but they stayed bought in, they executed some new stuff and did a really nice job offensively. I still don't think by any stretch did those points come easy but they stayed the course, played with one another and a real collective game."
The Demons took the lead on the first possession of the third quarter on a
Carla Celaya layup and free throw 10 seconds into the period. That was the first of four lead changes in the quarter as the teams battled through the 10-minute period.
The 6-foot-2 Tarleton freshman Faith Acker that came in averaging 18.0 points in her previous two games made a game-tying jumper a minute and a half later, two of her four total points in the game as the trio of
Jasmin Dixon,
Jordan Todd and
Jenny Ntambwe around the basket negated her size and presence all night.
"It was a fight and we came to win," Dixon said of the matchup around the basket. "We were ready for it. We've been practicing on it for the past few days and I knew what I had to do coming in and I did my best to perform."
Dixon also got the better of Acker on the glass secure a career-best matching 11 rebounds on the game to just five for Acker. The Demons outrebounded Tarleton 45-34 on the night including a 16-9 edge on the offensive glass.
The Demons never trailed by more than three in the period with the final Texan three-point edge of the game coming on a jumper with just over a minute left. Indicative of their resolve and on-court chemistry, a loose ball scramble led to a clutch 3-pointer at the quarter buzzer from Celaya that tied the game at 40 going into the final quarter.
Her triple set into motion the Demons' most complete quarter of the game in the most critical time.
After trading baskets through the first three minutes of the fourth,
Jiselle Woodson made a jump shot with 6:52 left to give the Demons the lead, one they would not relinquish as they outscored Tarleton from that point 15-7 to finish the game.
On another scramble play off a loose ball, Ntambwe found an open Woodson on the right wing for a wide open 3 that ripped the net, her only triple of the night, that put the Demons up by seven. She added to the lead with a jumper in the lane, after grabbing a rebound on the other end, to put NSU up nine with 2:22 left in the game.
"We're building off of what we're working on in practice and it's showing on the court," Woodson said. "You can see the chemistry, we're finding each other and know where we are so it's really cool to be able to do that."
Woodson scored 13 of a game-high 19 points in the fourth quarter, going 3-for-3 from the field and 6-for-8 from the free throw line to ice the game. Celaya ended the night with 10 points in her second double-digit scoring effort of the season.
NSU shot 67 percent from the field in the fourth quarter and 50 percent in the second half.
