NATCHITOCHES—In a matchup of two of the best defenses in the Southland Conference, once again it was the Northwestern State defense that stood the tallest.

NSU (10-9, 7-4) held Nicholls (10-9, 6-6) to just 31.5 percent shooting and held the Colonels to just 10 points in the final period, as the Demons took home a big 57-47 victory on Thursday evening at Prather Coliseum to complete the season sweep of the Colonels.

"I am really proud of them," head coach Anna Nimz said. "I thought they showed a lot of intelligence down the stretch. A lot of individual players came up with a lot of big plays. Carla (Celaya) had 10 rebounds for us. Clarence (Djuela) had big baskets early in the fourth. Both of them played tremendous defense as well.

"Vee Atamah had 16 points in 15 minutes, which showed maturity on her part to come in and out and just sit a majority of the game. There were a lot of positives to take from this game, but we have to stop throwing the ball away."

The Demons remain perfect (10-0) when holding their opponent to less than 60 points.

While the defense earned most of the credit, and rightfully so, the offense stepped up in a big way in the fourth.

Saddled with foul trouble the entire game that limited her to just 16 minutes, Vernell Atamah came through when the team needed her the most.

Picking up her fourth foul early in the fourth, she was forced to sit until 4:09 to play with the Demons clinging to a 45-42 lead.

Ahead 45-44, Atamah scored seven straight NSU points to push a one-point lead to 52-47, highlighted by a left-wing triple with 3:05 left to put the Demons up 48-44.

She scored nine of her team-high 16 points in the final 4:09, lifting up an offense that had just scored 10 points in the first 16 minutes of the second half.

While Atamah closed out the fourth, Clarence Djuela kept the Demons afloat early in the fourth after Atamah picked up her fourth foul.

A 13-0 run spanning the third and fourth quarters by Nicholls tied the score at 39-39 early in the fourth before Djuela scored on two nifty turnaround hook shots to give the Demons a lead they never relinquished.

"In the moment, I didn't even realize how much my shots got us going," Djuela said. "I just had come back from a poor third quarter and I was pretty frustrated with myself that I was not connecting on my shots at the rim. But Coach told me to go out there and do your thing and the shots will fall."

With Atamah missing most of the first half, second and third-leading scorers Nya Valentine and Tiara Abron picked up the slack.

Before she checked out with her second foul late in the first quarter, Atamah scored seven points in the opening period, as her and Valentine combined for 13 of the 19 in a high-scoring first quarter that saw the game tied at 19-19.

Abron came to play in the second, as she scored seven points during a 12-0 run to turn a 19-18 deficit into a 30-19 lead and NSU went into halftime with a 35-25 advantage.

Abron finished with 14 points on 5-of-8 shooting with seven boards. It is her sixth straight game in double figures.

In the first half, the Demons shot 55 percent.

While NSU's defense was the headliner, Nicholls' defense showed its power in the third quarter, going on an 11-point run to end the period, holding the Demons without a point in the final 7:41, as the home team went 0-for-10 in that stretch.

Marie Kenembeni started the run with four of her game-high 17 points, as she finished one rebound shy of a double-double.

Nicholls used the turnovers to fight back, forcing seven NSU turnovers and converting them into seven points.

But in the fourth, the Demons took over, out-scoring Nicholls 18-10 and 12-3 in the final 3:05.

"This game was really important," Carla Celaya said, after grabbing a game-high 10 rebounds, her fourth double digit rebounding game in the last eight. "In past games, we were lacking toughness. Today, it was an important game to be tough and together. There were times we didn't handle their runs, but we fixed it and showed we can be tougher than the other team. Together, we achieved everything."

While she only scored three points in the game, Payton Miller was a key component of the Demons defense in the game and stepped up in the absence of Atamah,

"Payton had a phenomenal game," Nimz said. "It may not show up in the stat line, but she was a tough player. She guarded one of the best players and that was a big defensive assignment she was in on. She came in and was incredible. It was crucial for her to step up like she did and she is a big part of the win."

Miller was a big reason for holding Nicholls leading scorer Tanita Swift to just eight points and no free throw attempts after averaging 5.5 free throw attempts per game in her first 11 contests.

Now Demons hit the road for three in a row, starting Saturday against New Orleans. NSU then travels to Lamar (Feb. 5) and East Texas A&M (Feb. 7) before coming home for five in a row, starting with hosting league-leading McNeese on Feb. 12.