By Jonathan Zenk, Northwestern State Assistant Director of Communications; featured photo by Chris Reich, NSU Photographic Services
NATCHITOCHES — Northwestern State welcomed the new year by shooting a blistering 58.6 percent in the second half, racing to a 70-55 Southland Conference victory over visiting McNeese on Thursday evening at Prather Coliseum.
The Demons (5-7, 2-1) poured in 50 points in the second half after scoring 20 in the first half to earn their second straight victory.
“It was a tale of two teams,” head coach Anna Nimz said. “It was a very dominant performance in the second half. It is something we know they can do and I was excited to see them play with a tremendous amount of energy and confidence in themselves coming out of halftime.”
Grad student Sharna Ayres was the catalyst, burying 4-of-5 from 3-point range in the final 20 minutes, scoring 16 of her team-high 23 points. Ayres nearly recorded a double-double, hauling down eight rebounds as well.
For the game, Ayres drained a season-high six triples of the team’s nine. The Demons are now 4-2 in games they have buried at least nine 3-pointers.
She was joined in the second half barrage by senior Mya Blake, who scored 11 of her 16 points in the second half. After scoring just five points on 2-of-7 in the first half, she went 4-of-8 in the second half, including a pair of 3-point makes.
“Energy was the difference between the first half and second half,” Nimz said. “They are really good shooters and just scored four points in the second quarter and that doesn’t drive energy. I think we came out flat from the jump and we came out of halftime with a completely different energy load and it showed.”
Blake nearly recorded her second double-double of the season, hauling down nine rebounds as well as dishing out six assists.
As a team, the Demons recorded 14 assists on their 24 made buckets.
“Coach (Nimz) has been saying we have firepower all over the team,” Ayres said. “It doesn’t matter where or who it is, everyone can score the ball. It shows in practice. We have multiple green lights this year who can shoot the ball whenever they want to. If we keep working hard and playing as a team, we could be unstoppable.”
Down six points at halftime, Ayres turned around the game with an eight-point run to give the Demons a 31-30 lead, one Northwestern State never relinquished.
The run was in the midst of a 20-2 run and 18 straight by the Demons to take command.
A jumper from McNeese’s Kiayra Ellis pushed the Cowgirls (5-8, 0-2) lead to 28-20 18 seconds into the third quarter before Ayres and freshman Vernell Atamah took over.
In the 20-2 run, Ayres and Atamah combined to score 15 of the 20 points.
Atamah scored 11 total points in the contest, her ninth consecutive double figure scoring effort.
While the second half went about as well as anyone could have imagined, the second quarter was the opposite.
The Demons led 16-14 after the first quarter but shot just 1-of-16 in the second period, including missing their final 15 shots.
While the offense was aiming to find its rhythm, the defense held McNeese to just 5-of-19 in the quarter and limited the Cowgirls to just the 26-20 halftime advantage.
The defense came up in a big way again, limiting its third straight conference opponent to 55 points or fewer, and held the Cowgirls to just 30.2 percent shooting, including under 30 percent in three of the four quarters.
Northwestern State’s lead grew as big as 18 in the game after a 3-pointer from Carla Celaya late in the game.
Paris Guillory did what she could for the Cowgirls, scoring a game-high 26 of their 55 points, making 8-of-20 shots.
Northwestern State is back in action Saturday when it hosts Nicholls in a women’s and men’s doubleheader at Prather Coliseum, starting at 1 p.m.