NATCHITOCHES—When a team does something it hasn't done in 23 years, it should come as no surprise that Northwestern State was well represented on the All-Southland Conference teams.

This is the first time since 2003-04 that NSU has had 14 conference wins.

That year is also special because that was the last year the Demons had the SLC Player of the Year—until this year, as Vernell Atamah collected the honor after leading the league in scoring and finishing third in rebounding, the league announced Friday.
In addition to Atamah's player of the year, she also earned a first team selection. Joining her on the all-conference teams is second team selection Nya Valentine.

Atamah, a sophomore from Mesquite, Texas, is the fifth Demon to take home the SLC Player of the Year honor and the sixth time they have won it overall, as Joskeen Garner won it back-to-back in 1995 and 1996.

The last one to win it was La'Terrica Dobin in that 2003-04 campaign.

Atamah is the third Demon in the last four years to earn a spot on the first team, joining Blake (2024-25) and Candice Parramore (2022-23).

She is leading the league in both overall (19.3) and in conference games (19.0) and her 19.3 points per game are the most since Beatrice Attura averaged 20.6 in 2016-17.

In that 2016-17 season, Attura also made 88 3-pointers, which Atamah is close to breaking. Atamah is at 87 made triples, so she needs one to tie and two to break.

She is a part of a team that is one shy of the team 3-point record of 223, set last season.

Atamah's 579 total points are tied for the sixth-most points in a single season in program history.

She has multiple games with at least 30 points this season, including 31 points in the win last time out against Houston Christian, one in which also saw Atamah become the 28^th member of the 1,000-point club for the NSU women.

Atamah has scored at least 20 points in 17 of the 30 games and at least 15 points in 23 of those 30 contests.

After last season, NSU lost starting point guard Mya Blake, who earned first team all-conference honors, and needed to replace her.

Enter Valentine, who has been the perfect fit as Robin to Atamah's Batman.

Valentine, a graduate student from Mobile, Ala., averages 12.4 points overall and 13.8 during SLC play.

Her 5.0 assists per game during conference play are second in the league and her 136 assists are the most by a Demon since Attura's 152 in 2016-17. Her 109 helpers during SLC play are the most since Dobin dished out 163 assists during conference play in her player of the year season of 2003-04.

She is coming off a performance where she had 20 points and nine dimes against UNO in the 16-point win to finish the regular season.

On five occasions this season she made five 3-pointers, as her 70 overall triples are tied for ninth in program history.

One of those times was in the big win at McNeese, where she buried a cold-blooded 3-pointer with 20 seconds left to seal the big victory in what turned out to be the Cowgirls only conference defeat.

This is the first time since 2021-22 that the Demons have had multiple players on the all-conference teams, as they had Parramore on the second team and Monette Bolden on the third team when they still had three teams.

The Demons dynamic duo leads the No. 5 Demons into the Southland Conference Tournament, which begins at 11 a.m. on Monday against No. 8 East Texas A&M.