BEAUMONT, Texas – Northwestern State receives its first major road test of the conference schedule right out of the gate when it faces Lamar on Saturday afternoon.
 
Coming off an all-around performance in the conference-opening win against McNeese, the Demons (5-7, 1-0), who held the top two Cowgirl scorers to a combined seven points, take on the top two scorers in the league.
 
Tipoff for the first game of NSU's first women's and men's road doubleheader is set for 3 p.m. and will air on ESPN+.
 
On top of a sound defensive gameplan, the Demons used two things to hold the Southland's top scoring offense to nearly 20 points below their average and two players averaging more than 10 points per game to seven total in the win.
 
"Confidence and execution," head coach Anna Nimz said. "We have a few game keys that really never change. We were able to check those off the board against McNeese and when they are able to do those things we're able to win games."
 
NSU will face a similar task on Saturday when it faces a pair of top-flight scorers in Lamar's Sabria Dean and Akasha Davis.
 
The duo are the top two point scorers in the Southland putting in 15.2 and 14.0 points per game respectively and both coming off 20-point performances in a come-from-behind victory on Thursday against UIW.
 
Dean put in 29 points in the win while Davis recorded her third double-double in the past four games to maintain her conference-leading 8.2 rebound per game average. The pair have accounted to three of the seven total conference player of the week honors this season with Dean taking home two in the first three weeks.
 
"We have to take that same energy, intent and overall passion for playing with each other into Lamar," Nimz said. "We get to celebrate for a few seconds and with how the schedule works we have to move on right away. Very proud of how we played on Thursday but Southland Conference play means we have to turn it around quickly."
 
Lamar's offense runs through the combo of Dean and Davis, but the Demons are fresh off a game where five players scored in double digits, led by Sharna Ayres' 16 points to accompany a pair of 11-point performances off the bench from Jenny Ntambwe and Nia Hardison.
 
Ayres has been the most consistent scorer this season for the Demons, leading the team in points five different times. A total of six different players however have led the team in scoring in one game or another this year with 30 total double-digit outings across seven players.
 
"The confidence that we have on the floor and that we share on the court comes from the bench and the coaches," Jiselle Woodson said. "Coach has all the confidence in the world in us and we just feed off of that and are able to give it to our teammates and pass it along. It's a good vibe on the bench and the court and you're able to see it when it's working well."