By Jonathon Zenk, Northwestern State Assistant Director of Communications; featured photo by Chris Reich, NSU Photographic Services
NATCHITOCHES—Northwestern State could not keep pace with a hot shooting performance from UIW in a 71-64 loss on Thursday evening at Prather Coliseum.
With the loss, the Demons (13-14, 10-8) fall behind UIW (16-12, 11-8) in the standings and the Cardinals earn the tiebreaker with the sweep after beating Northwestern State on a buzzer beater in December in Beaumont.
UIW shot 50 percent for the game, as well as connecting on at least 50 percent from the field in each of the first three quarters. The only team to shoot better than the Cardinals did against the Demons defense is No. 7 LSU, which shot 52.7 percent.
The only other team to make at least 40 percent of its shots against Northwestern State’s defense in 2025 is league-leading Southeastern Louisiana.
“We’ve given up 70 points in back-to-back games, which is very uncharacteristic for our team,” head coach Anna Nimz said. “That is super disappointing, as was giving up 17 points off turnovers. We’ve gone the wrong direction the last two games, so we have to lock back in, come together and re-focus.”
The Demons sit in sixth place, a half-game behind both UIW and UTRGV with two games remaining.
After an even first quarter, UIW blitzed Northwestern State in the second quarter, shooting 56.3 percent while holding the Demons to just 25 percent in the frame to out-score the home team 20-9 to open up a 37-26 halftime lead.
Jorja Elliott and Destiny Whitaker each scored six of their team-high 13 points in that second quarter to lead the way for the Cardinals.
Like it has all season, UIW received contributions from everybody, as four players reached double figures, but none more than 13.
In addition to Elliott and Whitaker each recording 13 points, Madison Cockrell (12) and Brynn Lusby (10) each scored in double digits. Of the nine players who saw action for UIW, seven scored at least five points.
UIW’s bench was a force, scoring 35 of the team’s 71 points.
In the second half, Northwestern State fought back, like it has all season, out-scoring UIW 18-8 in the first seven minutes of the third quarter following a 3-pointer from Sharna Ayres, one of her four in the game, to cut it to 45-44.
“We got it within one,” Nimz said. “But we kept talking that we were trading buckets way too much. We were getting one or two stops, but we were never quite getting that kill, that third stop. They are a tremendous free throw shooting team and we gave them way too many opportunities at the charity stripe.”
UIW responded immediately, finishing the third frame on an 8-2 run to push the lead back to seven at 53-46.
The lead grew from there, as the Cardinals scored nine of the quarter’s first 11 points to push the advantage to a game-high 14 at 62-48, a 17-4 run dating back to the third quarter.
Four times during the remainder of the game the Demons cut the deficit to six points, but the Cardinals scored on the ensuing possession each time to seal the UIW victory.
Mya Blake scored a game-high 18 points to lead Northwestern State, pacing three Demons in double figures. She was joined by Ayres’ 12 and Vernell Atamah scored 10 after tallying just two in the first half.
Clarence Djuela has picked it up, tying her career high with nine points to go with four rebounds, three of which were offensive.
“(Clarence) is not surprised anymore,” Nimz said. “She is still settling into things defensively, which is where she learns a lot from (Jasmin) Dixon. She’s been a really good freshman for us and will have a really good career as a post player. I am really happy for her. She has really come on in the last few weeks.”
While the turnovers were close (15-14), UIW took advantage more than Northwestern State, out-scoring the Demons 17-9 in points off turnovers.
The Demons remain at home for the final two games, hosting Houston Christian on Saturday before finishing the regular season against East Texas A&M on Wednesday.