LAKE CHARLES—In the past two seasons, the Northwestern State women's basketball team has accomplished many feats that haven't been accomplished in a decade.

NSU (4-4, 1-0) has a chance to accomplish one more of those feats when it travels to McNeese (7-3, 1-0) on Monday for the second Southland Conference match for both teams.
Tip-off is at 6:30 at Townsley Law Arena and can be viewed on ESPN+.

"It's a tall task," head coach Anna Nimz said. "They are playing with consistency and playing with a tremendous group of freshmen who fit into their style of play. They've had a lot of success in their pre-season with upper-level wins.

"For us, it's going to take 40 minutes. McNeese is relentless defensively, as they have already over 120 steals this season. That shows where their sense of urgency is and where they are getting a lot of easy buckets. We have to play with poise and take care of the ball."

Following the win over reigning SLC regular season champion Southeastern Louisiana, the Demons have a chance to win the first two games of conference play for the first time since 2015-16. It also has a chance to win its first two road SLC games since 2014-15.

While NSU defeated SLU to open conference action, McNeese rolled to a 71-45 home victory over East Texas A&M on Friday.

Vernell Atamah is coming off her second SLC Player of the Week award this season after one of the best performances in her career, scoring 22 points and grabbing a career-high 16 rebounds in the win at SLU, including 11 on the offensive glass.

She wasted little time securing her second consecutive double-double, as she recorded 10 points and 10 rebounds in the first quarter.

The Demons have been hitting the glass in a big way this season, as they are plus-5.8 in rebounding margin this year, which is second in the Southland, only to UTRGV's plus-6.3.

Three NSU players average at least five rebounds per game, led by Clarence Djuela's 6.9, just ahead of Carla Celaya's 6.8. Atamah's 27 boards in the past two contests have improved her rebounding average to 5.9.

NSU has crushed its last two opponents on the glass, out-rebounding SLU by 21 in the last game after being plus-17 against Purdue Fort Wayne.

Djuela is coming off a career-high 12-point outing and has become a force down low. In her past two games, she has averages 10.5 points and seven boards.

"Clarence has calmed down a bit," Nimz said. "She gets a little excited when she is waiting for a screen or when we're starting to run the offense, but she is maturing in the basketball world, and the game is slowing down for her a little bit.

"She always tries hard and when you have that, you can pretty much do anything with the kid. Her basketball IQ has grown, her footwork around the rim has grown and the scoring percentages at the rim have grown. As a sophomore, after playing backup minutes last year, to come in and be dominating the minutes this year, she has done a really good job."

McNeese brought in Ayla Guzzardo from SLU in an in-conference coaching move, and she brought with her nine players from the Lady Lions.

Like SLU last season, the Cowgirls have a balanced offensive attack, as five players average between seven and 12 points per game. After scoring 5.6 per contest last season for the Lady Lions, Arianna Patton leads McNeese with 11.8 points per game and shoots 40 percent from deep.

But McNeese prides itself on the defensive end of the court, where it is far and away the tops in the Southland in scoring defense (52.7) and steals (155), as well as third in opponent's field goal percentage (.390). The Demons are fourth in points offensively (69.6) and third in shooting percentage (.424).

Following the match, NSU has a quick turnaround, as it travels to Austin to battle Texas on Wednesday in the final non-conference contest of the season. The Demons are next at home Dec. 21 against UIW in the first Southland game this season at Prather Coliseum and final contest prior to Christmas.