By Jason Pugh, Northwestern State Associate Athletic Director for External Relations; featured photo by Chris Reich, NSU Photographic Services
BEAUMONT, Texas—Mya Blake finished off a sensational week with 25 points, but her effort was not enough, as Northwestern State couldn’t hold an early lead in a 59-55 loss to Lamar on Monday at Neches Arena at the Montagne Center.
The Demons (8-10, 5-4) lost for the third consecutive game, but all three games coming down to the wire and both this week coming down to the final seconds.
“I’m proud of how the group is competing at a high level and with big time grit,” head coach Anna Nimz said. “We just have to keep grinding and growing together.”
Lamar (14-4, 9-0) remained undefeated with its nine straight victory as it sets up an enormous matchup Thursday evening with fellow unbeaten Southeastern Louisiana. Down at the half, the Cardinals rebounded to outscore the Demons 34-22 in the final 20 minutes to erase the 8-point halftime deficit and come out on top.
While the Cardinals struggled from the field, they more than made up for it by dominating the offensive glass, grabbing 19 of their misses, which led to 16 Lamar points.
Akasha Davis did most of the damage for the Cardinals, posting a massive double-double with 21 points and 18 rebounds.
The Demons had a chance to tie or take the lead late following a steal and basket, plus the foul by Atamah, but Atamah’s layup was missed and rebounded by Lamar, which made two free throws to cement the win for the home team.
After posting a career-high 37 points last time out at Stephen F. Austin, Blake backed that up with 25 more.
Like the Demons as a whole, Blake started out on fire. The senior buried three 3-pointers in the first quarter, three of six made triples in the opening frame. After making the first one and missing the second, Northwestern State drilled five 3-pointers in a row to build a 20-7 lead at the end of one quarter.
Vernell Atamah, who posted her third double-double of the season with 11 points and 10 rebounds, recorded six and six in the first quarter, buying a pair of triples.
Carla Celaya posted the other triple in the quarter, one of her two in the game. Celaya’s six points are the most for her since scoring eight in the win over McNeese on Jan. 2.
Northwestern State’s stifling defense held the high-powered Cardinals offense to just 2-of-18 from the field and 0-of-4 from deep.
For the game, the Demons defense limited the Cardinals to 29.4 percent shooting and just 1-of-12 from deep.
The 59 points are the fewest Lamar scored since scoring 52 in a loss to Cleveland State on Nov. 30. The overall shooting percentage is the worst output of the season for the Cardinals and only the loss to CSU (1-for-13) was worse from 3-point land.
“The girls are doing an incredible job defensively,” Nimz said. “We need to continue to grow in our secondary defense with securing rebounds on missed possessions and truly reward themselves for their incredible defensive efforts.”
The lead grew to as many as 15 early in the second quarter following a jumper from Nia Hardison and a pair of free throws from Blake, but the Cardinals fought back and cut the game to 33-25 at halftime.
Blake scored 20 of her 25 in the first half to build the lead.
It was Lamar’s turn to put the clamps on defensively in the third quarter, holding the Demons to just a single made field goal in 10 attempts, as the Cardinals outscored the Demons 15-7 in the quarter to knot the game at 40-40 heading into the fourth, where Lamar was able to make the plays needed to win.
Northwestern State went 10-of-20 from deep and shot 36 percent from the field overall.
The Demons held Lamar’s leading scorer Sabria Dean to 13 points on 5-of-17 shooting and Jacei Denley scored 10 but needed 14 points to score those 10.
“Lamar has a group that has been together for years,” Nimz said. “We are still 11 new faces working together and growing together.
“We just need to keep working.”
The Demons return home for one Thursday against UTRGV before hitting the road for two more against East Texas A&M (Saturday) and the first rematch of the season against Nicholls (Feb. 6). And