NATCHITOCHES—Following a loss in Baton Rouge last time out to one of the best teams in college basketball in LSU, head coach Anna Nimz stressed patience as Northwestern State enters game three of the non-conference slate.

The Demons (1-1) were overwhelmed by the speed, strength and skill of LSU and now welcome Arkansas Baptist (0-1) of the NAIA into Prather Coliseum for Tuesday's contest.

Tip-off is at 6:30 with the game being aired live on ESPN+.

Northwestern State aims to start off the season at Prather Coliseum with two wins, having dominated the opener, winning 84-33 against Champion Christian.

Nimz is stressing on working on themselves in practice and focusing on one area individually Nimz wants them to improve at.

"We are focusing on that during practice," she said. We need to work on ourselves, capitalize in one area, picking one area individually that we're going to get corrected and then we can continue to have progress.

"I challenged every player to pick one thing, whether that is how we close out, whether it's how we guard up or what have you. If we've got 16 kids picking something to correct, then we'll make strides and get better."

Jasmin Dixon and Vernell Atamah have been impressive so far for the Demons, combining for 28 so far. Dixon has added two blocks in each of her first two games of the season and Nimz is excited about her aggressiveness to start the season.

"Jasmine is off to a more aggressive start," Nimz said. "She has always had the ability to block shots. This year, I think she is kind of hunting them and having a little bit of fun with it.

"Overall, with that tenacity she played with the other night against LSU and she didn't back down, she found herself in the mix and had a lot of success. It doesn't always show up in the paper as far as what other people deem success, but she's been clogging up the paint for us, getting back in the hole and doing a really nice job."

Zhane Thompson, a graduate student from Burnsville, Minnesota, leads Northwestern State with 13 points per game, including 20 in the opening night win over Champion Christian.

Of her nine made field goals so far this season, eight have come from beyond the arc, shooting 42 percent from deep.

Arkansas Baptist has played one game, which came Oct. 29, a 73-55 to Rust (MS). In the game, the Buffaloes played just five players the entire contest.

Even if defeat, Ariel Jefferson stood out for the Buffaloes, scoring a game-high 21 points on 8-of-13 shooting.

In her first game with Arkansas Baptist, guard Chasity Woodard poured in 16 points, second in the game, only to Jefferson. She scored her 16 on 6-of-11 shooting, grabbing five rebounds as well.

Following the contest, the Demons hit the road for a three-game Texas road trip, beginning with a visit to Tarleton on Saturday at 1 p.m. They also travel to Texas A&M (Sunday) and North Texas (Nov. 20) on the road trip.