NATCHITOCHES—Northwestern State head coach Anna Nimz couldn't have scripted a better start to the Southland Conference season.

After taking down two of the conference favorites in McNeese and Lamar, the Demons (6-5, 3-0) close out 2025 with rival Stephen F. Austin (7-5, 1-2) on Wednesday for a New Year's Eve tilt.

Tip-off is at 1 p.m. at Prather Coliseum.

SFA earned the trip to the NCAA Tournament after winning the conference tournament a season ago.

"Stephen F. Austin is a tremendous team," Nimz said. "They are really well coached, and they have a lot of kids they were able to bring back, including, in my opinion, one of the best 3-point shooters we'll see throughout the course of the year.

"At the end of the day, SFA is a championship-caliber team, and we have to put our hard hats on and we're going to have to stay intently focused since they play very fast."

The Demons are aiming for a perfect 4-0 start in Southland play for the first time since 2014-15.

Nya Valentine, the reigning SLC Player of the Week, is coming off a week in which she averaged 19.5 points per game in the two victories against McNeese and Lamar, including making nine 3-pointers. She also averaged 4.5 rebounds and 4.5 assists per game in those two wins.

During SLC play, she ranks 12^th in points (13.7), tied for fourth in assists (5.0) and No. 1 in 3-pointers made (9).

After going 2-for-16 in her first three games from deep, she has made 19 of 37 from 3-point range in her last eight games, making at least one triple in seven of them and at least three 3-pointers in four of those games.

With her and Vernell Atamah (34 made 3-pointers), as well as one of the most 3-point happy teams in the country in SFA, expect many attempts from deep.

The two teams are two of the top three teams in 3-point attempts in the Southland in overall contests, as SFA's 26.7 3-point attempts per game rank in the top 30 nationally.

Harmanie Dominguez leads the conference in both made 3-pointers (38) and 3-point attempts (103) in overall games. Her .369 percent shooting from deep leads the Ladyjacks.

"Everybody on their team is a shooter," Nimz said. "There is not one kid who doesn't let it fly. They have made more 3s than us, so it will be a battle of the 3-point game and whenever you let it fly from the 3-point line, you better rebound down hard."

It will be a matchup of strength against strength, as the Demons are third in the Southland in points allowed per game, while the Ladyjacks lead the conference by a significant margin in offensive points per contest.

In its seven contests against non-power conference schools, NSU has surrendered just 52.6 points per game on 34.2 percent shooting.

Of those seven games, only one team has been able to break 60 points against the NSU defense, and four have been held under the 55-point mark.

On the other side, the Ladyjacks are averaging nearly 75 points per game, nearly six points better than second-place East Texas A&M. In their 12 games, they have scored more than 70 points seven times.

SFA has eight players who have played this season and all eight average at least 4.5 points per game, with four averaging in double figures, led by Dominguez (14.2). She is joined by Myka Perry (12.8), Key Roseby (12.8) and Kaylinn Kemp (11.2).

Like NSU, SFA has played the same starting five each game, two of 15 teams in the country who can make that claim.

Following the contest, NSU heads back on the road to start 2026 with a trip to Nicholls on Saturday before coming back home for two more against UTRGV (Jan. 8) and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (Jan. 10).