By Jonathan Zenk, Northwestern State Assistant Director of Communications; featured photo by Chris Reich, NSU Photographic Services
NATCHITOCHES—A late run, highlighted by nasty defense down the stretch, gave Northwestern State a 56-44 victory over visiting Nicholls on Saturday afternoon at Prather Coliseum.
The Demons (6-7, 3-1) held the Colonels (8-5, 1-3) scoreless in the final 5:17 to break open a 44-44 tie and gave the home team its third consecutive victory, its first three-game winning streak during Southland Conference play since Jan. 7-14, 2023.
The 3-1 SLC start is the best start for the Demons in league play since 2015-16 when they also started 3-1. They started 5-1 en route to a second-place league finish.
Northwestern State, one of the top defenses in the league, forced six consecutive misses and three turnovers in that 5:17.
“They were resilient,” head coach Anna Nimz said. “They bought in and they locked down and that was the challenge, They were doing a good job of finding things offensively, but we locked down. That’s a really good offensive team, so I am incredibly proud of them.”
Scoring just five points in the first half of the fourth quarter, the Demons scored 12 in the final five minutes.
Four straight free throws from Sharna Ayres, who had just two points up until that point, broke the deadlock before a basket and foul from freshman Vernell Atamah to put the Demons in front by seven.
Northwestern State helped itself immensely from the free throw line, making 17-of-19 from the free throw line, including 10-of-11 in the final quarter.
Atamah and Mya Blake each scored a game-high 19 points. Blake hit a tough shot during the last run to put the game away.
“Our defense won us that game,” Blake said. “We got a lot of transition buckets. Even if we didn’t score in the initial transition, we moved the ball because of the scramble after the turnover is where we got a lot of our buckets.”
The defense put the clamps on the conference’s leading scorer Tanita Swift four much of the game. Swift scored 17, but she scored 11 in the first 11:41 of the game, but the Demons defense limited her to just six in the final 28:19.
“Defense is a team thing,” Nimz said. “Nia guarded No. 3 (Swift) and she averages 20 and she held her to 17. It takes a lot of energy and a lot of effort. Everybody had really big defensive assignments, all the way from start to finish.
“If we hold a really good offensive team to 44 points, we’ll put ourselves in position to win some ball games, While we’re a much better shooting team than we’ve shown, we’re giving ourselves a chance because of our defense.”
Overall, the Demons held Nicholls to just 27.3 percent from the field, including just 3-of-22 from 3-point range, the third league game where they held the opponent to three or fewer made triples.
In each of the last three victories, Northwestern State held opponents to under 32 percent shooting all three times.
Nicholls made a run late in the third and early in the fourth, beginning with Blake being called for a foul on a last-second desperation heave at the end of the third, which led to Elli Garnett making all three free throws to cut the Demons lead to 40-35.
Garnett further made her presence felt early in the fourth, as she buried a triple from the right corner on Nicholls’ first possession of the final period to cut the deficit to two.
A quick four points from Swift following a pair of free throws and steal and fast break layup tied the game at 44-44 before the Demons took control late.
Swift was one of two Colonels in double figures, as Britiya Curtis posted 14, including 10 in the third quarter where she made a pair of triples.
After falling behind after one quarter, the Demons held the Colonels to 21.4 percent shooting in the second half and out-scoring the visitors 14-6 to grab a 26-19 lead at the break.
Leading scorer Mya Blake scored six of her 19 points in the second quarter to put the Demons in front at the break.
The Demons dominated the glass, out-rebounding Nicholls 42-27, including nine offensive boards by the home team.
In addition to the 19 points each from Blake and Atamah, both players also added nine rebounds as well. Blake dished out three assists as well.
In addition to her stellar defense guarding Swift, Hardison matched a season high with eight points.
Northwestern State heads back on the road, traveling to Texas A&M-Corpus Christi on Thursday for its only contest of the week.