COMMERCE, Texas—After a solid shooting first quarter, Northwestern State went cold from the field in the final three periods in a 61-52 loss at East Texas A&M on Saturday afternoon.

In the first quarter, NSU (11-11, 8-6) made 7-of-16 from the field, but went just 15-of-51 in the final three quarters, while the Lions (11-10, 7-7) made 53.9 percent in the game's opening 33 minutes, as the Demons dropped their second straight game to finish the road trip.

"We got out-played today and weren't ready to compete," head coach Anna Nimz said.

The middle of the pack in the Southland Conference is clustered, as the fifth-place Demons and eighth-place Nicholls are separated by just a game and a half.

After back-to-back 3-pointers from Nya Valentine and Vernell Atamah and layup from Tiara Abron, NSU cut a 12-point deficit to 39-35 with 6:03 remaining in the third. From there, ETAMU stormed out once again, helped out by the 3-pointer.

Every time the Demons were on the verge of climbing back, the Lions drained a huge triple. This one was by Ahmya Boyce, who buried a 3-pointer to make it 46-37. Boyce and Rezia Castillo combined for 22 points in the game, and half of them were in the 11-6 run to close out the third.

The lead grew to as many as 18 points in the fourth quarter before a flurry of triples from Valentine closed out the game. She led the Demons with 19 points, including five made 3-pointers.

In that final quarter, NSU looked like it may come back, as Clarence Djuela scored a bucket top open the period for two of her eight points on the game, as she nearly secured her first career double-double with 12 rebounds. That layup cut the deficit to 50-43.

But Cora Horvath and Reza Po had other ideas, combining to score 11 straight points to push the lead to the game-high 18 points and put the game away.

Fresh off her SLC Player of the Week, Po scored a team-high 14 points on 5-of-9 shooting. She is one of six ETAMU players to score at least five points.

In addition to her 14 points, she added seven rebounds and a game-high five assists.

The Lions started just as fast to open the game, setting the tone early. ETAMU began the game with back-to-back triples from Tiani Ellison and Nina Horvath and made six of its first seven from the field to jump out to a 14-8 lead in the first period.

Even when the Demons shot well, the Lions shot better and they were helped out by making eight of 14 from deep in the first three quarters.

For the game, the Lions made 9-of-19 from deep. The nine triples are the most surrendered by NSU since allowing 10 against Purdue Fort Wayne on Nov. 25.

Abron had another strong day for NSU, scoring 12 points on 6-of-10 shooting and adding four rebounds, two assists, two steals and a block.

Turnovers have been a point of emphasis for Nimz, and the team responded by only coughing it up six times, a season low.

Finally, after just one home game in a span of a month, the Demons have five games in a row in front of the home crowd, starting with a visit from in-state rival and league-leading McNeese on Thursday. It starts a string of six contests at Prather Coliseum in the final eight to conclude the regular season.