NATCHITOCHES—Karmelah Dean dropped a career-high 22 points, but 26 turnovers did in the Northwestern State women's basketball team in an 80-57 loss to New Orleans on Thursday evening at Prather Coliseum.

UNO turned those 26 turnovers, many of them of the live ball variety, into 24 points, controlling the final three quarters.

The Privateers turned the tables on NSU (9-13, 5-6) after the Demons blew out UNO (9-13, 6-5) by 29 points in New Orleans.

"In the last game against them, I thought we played incredibly well on both sides of the ball," head coach Anna Nimz said. "We also rebounded the ball well, but I also thought maybe UNO played a bit uncharacteristic of itself. I think we showed up like we were just going to walk into it, so it was a pretty disappointing effort on our end."

While the score finished out of hand, the Demons began the game making four of their first seven shots to jump out to an 11-4 lead before UNO responded with a 13-2 burst to capture a lead they never relinquished.

Dean scored eight of her 22 in the opening frame, while UNO's DeArica Pryor poured in nine of her 22 in the first as UNO held a slim 19-17 lead after one.

Dean's previous career high of 17 came at Southeastern Louisiana this season. She matched a career high with three 3-points, making the triples in five attempts.

From there, it was all Privateers, holding NSU to 12 or fewer points in two of the final three quarters, while UNO shot 53.1 percent for the game and holding NSU to 33.9 to take control.

"We missed a lot of chip shots around the rim," Nimz said. "If we don't miss those same shots and throw the ball away 26 times, it's a different ballgame. You can't cough up the ball that many times and expect to win. We didn't play with a lot of poise and I know our players have it in them and I believe in them, but we have to re-group, because we play the conference leaders on Saturday.

A Jenny Ntambwe bucket early in the second quarter cut the deficit back down to two points at 23-21, but UNO quickly responded with a pair of Pryor free throws led a nine-point run to expand the lead to 11.

NSU fought back to within 34-28, but Jayla Kimbrough scored five of her game-high 25 points in a 7-0 UNO run to end the half and give the Privateers a 41-28 lead at the break.

Kimbrough and Pryor dominated the paint, as the Privateers scored 58 of their 80 points in the paint. UNO made only three two-point baskets outside the paint, as it made three triples and nine free throws in addition to the 58 in the paint.

The lead never fell below 13 in the second half as UNO controlled the game, leading by as many as 24.

While Dean posted 22 points, she was the only Demon to reach double figures. Ntambwe dropped in eight and freshman Jermesha Frierson scored a career-high six.

Nora Francois was the third member of UNO to reach double figures with 11.

The Demons dominated the glass, out-rebounding UNO 45-32, including 21 offensive, its most offensive boards against a Division I team since also grabbing 21 in a victory over Nicholls in 2020.

UNO also had 34 points coming off the bench, with 25 of them coming from Kimbrough.

The Demons are right back in Prather again on Saturday afternoon against league-leading Southeastern Louisiana for the second of three consecutive home games.