By Jonathon Zenk, Northwestern State Assistant Director of Communications; featured photo by Elayna Felder
While everyone knows about Mya Blake, Northwestern State received contributions from everyone to pick up the second win in a row.
The Demons (10-10, 7-4) used a balanced scoring effort to pick up a 61-50 road victory over East Texas A&M (4-16, 1-10) on Saturday afternoon at the East Texas A&M Field House in Commerce, Texas.
Three players scored in double figures and one more was on the cusp, as the Demons used a third quarter run to separate themselves and held the Lions offense down to escape with the victory.
Overall, I am very happy,” head coach Anna Nimz said. “We’ve played every team in the Southland Conference at least once now and getting these wins in the Southland are hard and I am proud of them.”
Three players nearly recorded a double-double for the Demons, as Blake and Sharna Ayres each missed it by one rebound and Jasmin Dixon missed her first one of the season by one point.
“It’s great that we have significant firepower out of the three of Mya, Vee and Sharna, but it can’t always be that way. It’s too easy to scout. I think everybody stepped up, they were tremendous. Jasmin getting those rebounds and creating extra possessions for us—that was big.”
Holding a slim lead at the break, the Demons quickly scored the first seven of the second half to push the lead to 37-29 three and a half minutes into third quarter. The Lions never cut the deficit under five points the remainder of the game.
Vernell Atamah scored all four of her points during the run, scoring the final two buckets, both off Lions turnovers.
East Texas A&M cut it to 39-34, but Northwestern State quickly pushed the advantage to 12 off an 8-0 run, including one of Ayres’ three triples.
Ayres scored 14 points to go along with nine rebounds. She is just two away from the top five in made 3-pointers in program history.
One more push from the Lions cut it to 52-47, the stingy Northwestern State defense sealed the win, holding East Texas A&M scoreless for 6:04 before a meaningless triple to finish the game.
While the game finished terrific for Northwestern State, the contest started even better for the Demons, going on a 15-2 run early to take a 27-11 lead, led by Blake, who scored 11 of her game-high 16 in the first quarter.
East Texas A&M chipped away, finishing the half on an 18-3 run and 11 straight to cut the deficit to 30-29.
The Lions defense turned up the pressure in the second quarter, as they forced the Demons to be scoreless in the final 5:47 with 10 straight field goal misses and three turnovers in that period.
While the Demons held down Lions leading scorer Jordyn Newsome in the first half, second-leading scorer Jasmine Payne picked up the scoring load, scoring nine points of her team-high 13 in the second quarter to lead the comeback charge.
Northwestern State re-grouped at halftime and dominated the second half to pull away late.
Jasmin Dixon scored a season-high nine points to go along with 13 rebounds and led the charge defensively with three more blocks, putting her just three from the top five in school history.
“We wanted it,” Dixon said, referring to the second half defensive performance. “We brought energy and our “want to” and just fought.”
Along with Ayres and Blake, Nia Hardison also scored a season high with 12 points on 4-of-8 shooting.
The Demons won despite shooting 33.9 percent, holding the Lions to just 32.1 percent from the field, including just 25.9 percent in the second half. The best 3-point defense in the nation came through again, limiting East Texas A&M to just four makes in 19 attempts.
“At the end of the day, we’re a defensive-minded team,” Nimz said. “Obviously we shoot a lot of 3-pointers and we play quick, but our defense slipped. When the ball is not falling, we need to continue to lock it in on defense and we left them get away from us there in the second quarter.
“But we survived that run and came out re-focused and did a good job. I think we had a lot of really good defensive possessions down the stretch. Even when they made some shots, it wasn’t for a lack of good defense.
Northwestern State dominated the battle of the boards, out-rebounding East Texas A&M 34-28, but 12 of the boards for the Demons were offensive, which led to nine second chance points.
Newsome was held to just two points on 1-of-7 shooting in the first half before scoring 11 in the second half, but she needed 14 shots to score those 13 points.
After burying five triples last game, the Demons held Cora Horvath to just eight points on 4-of-18 from the field, including 0-for-5 from deep.
The Demons continue their three-game road swing with a pair of trips to the southern part of Louisiana, against Nicholls (Thursday) and McNeese (Feb. 8) before returning home to Natchitoches to play Lamar on Feb. 13.