NEW ORLEANS – The opponent may be different on Saturday, but the keys and focus remains the same for Northwestern State.
 
When the Demons (6-10, 2-3) face New Orleans (6-10, 3-2) on Saturday afternoon at 2 p.m. on ESPN+ it will be against the second team in as many games that hangs its hat on creating havoc on defense.
 
The Privateers lead the Southland on the season in forced turnovers per game at 18.6, with two conference games so far having forced more than 20. Junior Alexis Calderon currently leads the league during conference games in steals per game at 3.0.
 
That was one of the major contributing factors in NSU's loss on Thursday at Southeastern. The Demons turned the ball over 22 times, the most in a game during conference play, and the second most in a game against a non-Power 5 opponent this season.
 
While the NSU defense stood strong most of the game, limiting the Lions to just 11 total points off those turnovers, the missed chances on the offensive end proved costly in a game that came down to the final minutes. Southeastern attempted 12 more shots than the Demons in the game.
 
NSU had just nine giveaways in the second half and the offensive production that came with that was evident. The Demons shot 40 percent from the field across the final 20 minutes, had an 11-0 run to start the third that put them in the lead and outscored the Lions 28-27.
 
Karmelah Dean found her groove during that time scoring 13 of her career-high 17 points playing all 20 minutes of the third and fourth quarters. She gave NSU the lead twice in the early stages of the back-and-forth fourth quarter and tied the game on an inbound play with a corner 3-pointer with one second on the shot clock with 3:04 remaining.
 
Dean has scored in double figures in four of the past five games and has raised her scoring average by nearly two points during that stretch. She is scoring 13.0 points per game in conference play, ninth best in the league.
 
She also led the Demons in rebounding against Southeastern with six, the third time she has done that this season, tying for the second most boards in a game for her in her career.
 
The glass will be another place the Demons will be tested against the Privateers.
 
UNO has pulled in more than 40 rebounds in each of its past two games, grabbing 45 in their win at HCU, the most in a conference game so far and the second most in a game this year. They rank third in the Southland overall in the category pulling down 37.7 per game on the season.
 
They are doing so without a player ranked in the top 10 in rebounding in the overall stats or through five conference games. Junior Zoe Cooper, who scored a career-high 16 points on Thursday at HCU after scoring 19 total points in the previous five games, leads the team with a 5.3 rebound per game average.