By Brad Welborn, Northwestern State Assistant Sports Information Director; featured photo by Tamara Susa, TAMUC Athletics
COMMERCE, Texas – Northwestern State could not keep pace with a hot Texas A&M-Commerce shooting display on Wednesday night, falling to the Lions 69-58 in the regular season finale.
Led by a 6-for-9 effort from beyond the arc in just her fourth game of the season, the Lions’ Jada Hood had a career night with 22 points as Commerce (13-15, 8-10) shot better than 50 percent from the field for the majority of the game.
The Demons (11-18, 7-11) had two stretches where they held the Lions too little to nothing offensively during the game. The defense allowed just one made field goal over the final 7:33 of the first half and held the Lions scoreless for the final four minutes of the game.
The Lions were 1-for-17 during those 11 minutes of the game. Outside of that they went 24-for-45 for a .533 mark from the field.
“We didn’t finish the way we would’ve liked,” head coach Anna Nimz said. “But conference is over and it’s time to get down to business.
“I have full belief in this group and can’t wait to start the madness.”
NSU went shot for shot with the Lions early in the game with both teams trading baskets through the first five minutes of the night. Sharna Ayres made one of her three 3-pointers in the game to answer a Commerce triple. Jiselle Woodson knocked down a jumper on the next trip down to even the score at 10.
Ayres’ trio of triples in the game moved her to 72 for the season, the sixth most made 3-pointers in a season in NSU history, and just the eighth player to make 70 or more triples in a season for the Demons.
She finished the game with a team-high 16 points and her 10th game in conference play this year making three or more triples.
After an equally as hot start to the second quarter with the Lions holding the slim three-point edge 25-22 following a Jordan Todd free throw, Commerce converted on back-to-back jumpers, the second on one of just three second quarter NSU turnovers. The 29-22 scored held for the next five minutes as neither team scored a point until two Commerce free throws with just under three minutes left.
The teams scored 15 points of the 24 total in the period in the first 2:15 of the quarter and just nine over the final nearly eight minutes. After going 4-for-4 from beyond the arc in the first quarter to build their lead, NSU held Commerce 0-for-3 in the second and 0-for-5 from deep until the three-minute mark of the third quarter.
The triple that fell at that point was part of a 7-0 burst in the span of 90 seconds for the Lions that stretched their lead to double digits at 46-34. The run extended to 12-0 before Ayres broke the Demons drought with a jumper and free throw with 1:22 to go. A third 3-pointer, and the third from Hood, down the stretch of the third quarter gave the Lions the 54-37 advantage going to the fourth.
The Lions stretched their lead to as much as 22 midway through the fourth quarter before the Demons finished out the final four minutes with an 11-0 run that included back-to-back baskets from Ane Astarloa and a pair up buckets Jermesha Frierson in the final three seconds of the game.
NSU turned the ball over just 12 times in the game, tied for the second fewest in a game against a conference foe this year and tied for the third most rebounds in a game against a Southland opponent this year with 45.