NATCHITOCHES—Northwestern State brings in statistically the best defense in the Southland Conference as it goes for five wins in a row, facing New Orleans on Thursday.

Tip-off is at 6:30 p.m. at Prather Coliseum. The game is a Blackout, so fans are encouraged to wear black.

The Demons (7-7, 4-1) have won four in a row ever since the calendar turned to 2025 and in the five conference games to this point, only one team (McNeese) has broken the 50-point mark against the Demons ferocious defense.

"We've gotten better from the preseason to where we are at currently," head coach Anna Nimz said. "What is really fun, and you see it as a coach, is just how high their ceiling is. We've started to scratch it, but we haven't figured it out all the way. Like I've said, I still think we have some firepower that is sitting on the bench that we need to continue to find ways defensively for them to get in the game and impact winning.

"It's just them growing within each other and I think the biggest thing growing in confidence is stepping on the court on the court believing they are going to win compared to stepping on the court and wondering if they can win."

In the previous game, Northwestern State held Texas A&M-Corpus Christi to a season-low 42 points on 32 percent shooting, which was its third worst shooting output of the season.

Overall, the Demons have held their first five SLC opponents to just 31.4 percent collectively from the field overall, as well as just 20.5 (18-for-88) from deep, which is tops in the league.

Nationally, Northwestern State's defense ranks 29^th in opponents points per game (55.9), 22^nd in field goal percentage defense (36.0 percent) and eighth in 3-point percentage defense (24.3 percent).

At the center of the defense for Northwestern State is Jasmin Dixon, who has rejected 24 shots, just six away from another 30-block campaign and closing in on the top five in program history for career blocks at Northwestern State.

Mya Blake followed up her conference player of the week honor by scoring 15 of her game-high 17 points in the final quarter to lead the Demons to a come-from-behind victory at AMCC.

The senior leads the Demons in points (14.1) and assists (3.8), as well as third on the team in rebounding (5.6).

Blake is a part of a group that shoots 79 percent from the free throw line during league games as well, with Blake, Sharna Ayres and Vernell Atamah all shooting at least 80 percent from the charity stripe.

UNO (0-14, 0-5) has two players averaging double figures in points, led by Minneapolis native Nora Francois at 13.5 points per game. Against Nicholls on Dec. 22, she recorded a double-double with 16 points and 10 rebounds.

She also posted a double-double at Texas Tech in November with 10 points and a season-high 17 rebounds.

Jayla Kimbrough (12.1) is the other Privateers player averaging in double figures. She has three double-doubles, including two in SLC play.

"New Orleans is going to bring athleticism, scrappiness, determination, grittiness and a relentless desire to win. Those five things we have to be ready for. We have to make sure we can handle the chaos, we need to make sure we can handle their physicality and understand we can't a player get hot. They are a high emotion team and they play incredibly hard and gritty. So we've been working on that during practice and how we can maintain composure and execute our stuff."

Following the game, the Demons round out a string of four games out of five at home when they welcome league-leading Southeastern Louisiana to Prather Coliseum on Sunday before embarking on a stretch of five out of six games on the road.