NACOGDOCHES, Texas—Vernell Atamah's 23-point double-double was not enough, as Northwestern State couldn't hold an early lead and lost 70-63 at Stephen F. Austin on Thursday evening at the William R. Johnson Coliseum.

Atamah recorded her third double-double of the season for the Demons (9-9, 6-4) with 23 points and 11 rebounds and her 23 points are her most since pouring in 27 in the loss to Purdue Fort Wayne on Nov. 25. However, the Ladyjacks (14-5, 8-2) used a late six-point run to seal the game.

"There were a lot of positives tonight," head coach Anna Nimz said. "But we shot poorly inside the arc, and it plagued us. They played hard. They played with tremendous heart. We controlled the pace of play and shot it 14 more times than SFA, but we didn't connect on the bunnies."

A 3-pointer by Nya Valentine and pair of free throws cut an SFA lead to 63-61 with less than three minutes to play and Clarence Djuela recorded a block to give NSU a chance to tie or take the lead.

From that point on, the Demons went 1-for-6 with a turnover with the only bucket coming on a Tiara Abron layup with 16 seconds left to finish the scoring.

With 1:24 remaining, Kaylinn Kemp scored a layup for two of her team-high 21 points to put the Ladyjacks on top by four after pouring in 24 in SFA's victory in Natchitoches.

SFA made three of its four free throws in the final minute to seal the game.

Even in defeat, the Demons showed up ready for a battle from the opening tip.

After the loss to UIW and admittedly not playing their best, the Demons came out hot early, jumping out to a quick 9-1 lead on the strength of Atamah's four early points.

NSU jumped out to a 22-7 first quarter lead, making seven of its first 13 shots from the field and holding SFA to 2-of-10 to start.

But SFA is too good of an offense to hold down, showing exactly why it is the top offense in the Southland Conference.

After a 3-for-11 opening quarter, the Ladyjacks shot 48.6 percent in the final three quarters, while the Demons shot just 31.9 percent.

The difference was even more apparent from deep, as the Demons shot just 2-for-11 from deep in the second half, including missing nine of their final 10 3-point attempts.

On the flip side, the Ladyjacks made 8-of-15 from deep in the final three quarters after missing all five 3-point attempts they took in the opening 10 minutes.

Perhaps no two triples were bigger for SFA than the final two of the third quarter.

Trailing 49-47, the Ladyjacks received 3-pointers on back-to-back possessions from Key Roseby and Hermanie Dominguez to end the third quarter and take a 53-49 lead into the final frame.

SFA used that as a catalyst to take control of the game, as the Ladyjacks never trailed in the fourth.

Abron scored 13 for her fifth consecutive game in double figures for the Demons, but the stifling SFA defense forced her to shoot 17 times to earn the 13 points. Valentine also reached double figures, scoring 10.

For SFA, in addition to Kemp's 23 points, she posted nine assists, six rebounds and two steals. Lydia Cajuste scored 12 big points and Roseby had 11 points and eight rebounds.

Cha Gardner nearly secured a double-double with nine points and 10 rebounds.

With Saturday's game postponed against East Texas A&M, the next scheduled contest is a battle Jan. 29 at home against Nicholls before heading right back on the road for three more against New Orleans (Jan. 31), Lamar (Feb. 5) and East Texas A&M (Feb. 7).