HOUSTON—Back from a Christmas break, the Northwestern State women's basketball team jumps back into Southland Conference when it travels to Houston Christian.

Tip-off is Sunday at 2 p.m. at Sharp Gymnasium.

"They got to be able to go home and be around family and get away from one another a little bit," head coach Anna Nimz said. "If they stayed here, just kind of rest, recover and re-group. We are stepping into the next part of the season.

"We set goals for each individual portion of our season and we have non-conference, conference and postseason and we are just moving into the next portion of our season, hopefully rested and with full buckets."

The Demons (3-7, 0-1) aim to bounce back after dropping three consecutive when they head back into SLC play.

In the first conference match of the season, Northwestern State dropped a heartbreaker at UIW on a buzzer beater 48-46.

After winning just one league game last year, the Huskies (4-6, 1-0) have already matched that total this season, defeating East Texas A&M 62-56 in its conference opener Dec. 14.

"(HCU head coach) Donna (Finnie) does a fantastic job," Nimz said. "A couple of years back, they were Southland champions. She always has a big team, which makes them tough to match up with. To me, these games right after Christmas, it's not about talent, it's about toughness because nobody is going to be in the condition they want to be in. Toughness has to travel because, to me, the tougher team wins."

While both teams are in the middle of the pack in the SLC in rebounding margin, Northwestern State will have its hands full with the conference's leading rebounder Tiffany Tullis, who hauls down 10.6 boards per contest, one of two in the league to average at least 10 rebounds per game. In her conference opener, she recorded a double-double with 11 points and 14 rebounds against ETAMU.

It will be a team effort in order to win the battle on the glass, as the Demons have three of the top 22 players in the league in rebounds per game. Last time out, Northwestern State grabbed 15 offensive rebounds at South Florida.

In that game at USF, freshman Vernell Atamah reached double figures for the seventh straight game, the lone Demon to finish with at least 10 points against the Bulls.

Sharna Ayres is excited to see the Huskies, as she dominated in the two games against them a season ago.

In the two contests against HCU last year, Ayres averaged 19.5 points per game, including a career-high 24 points the last time she stepped foot into Sharp Gymnasium.

In those two games, she shot 45.2 percent from the floor and 42.3 percent from deep, making nine triples total.

Among freshmen, Atamah leads the SLC in scoring with 12.9 points per game, and second in rebounding at 5.4 boards per contest.

The Demons won both meetings a season ago, including a 64-55 win in Houston, one in which they broke open a one-point lead at the end of third quarter with an 8-0 run to start the fourth and never relinquished the lead.

Overall, Northwestern State has a 10-7 edge in the overall series, winning the last two meetings and three of the last four.

A trio of Demons are making return trips to Houston, as Momina Kassim is from Houston and Jasmin Dixon (Spring) and Chelsy Singleton (Cypress) are from surrounding cities.

A graduate student, Dixon is making her final trip to HCU. One of the conference's leader in blocks, Dixon is two games removed from having arguably her best performance as a Demon, posting career highs in rebounds (16) and blocks (6).

Following the match, the Demons head home for their first conference home games, welcoming in-state rivals McNeese (Thursday) and Nicholls (Saturday) to Prather Coliseum to kick off 2025.