By Brad Welborn, Northwestern State Assistant Sports Information Director; featured photo by Emmanuel Pepis, UNO Athletics
NEW ORLEANS – When it’s right, it’s right. And it was very right for Northwestern State on Saturday afternoon in a commanding 72-43 win at New Orleans.
A dominant 13-2 run to close the third quarter, started and ended by two of the Demons’ (7-10, 3-3) 11 made 3-pointers in the game, helped push them to the 29-point win, their largest margin of victory in a conference game in 10 years.
“Proud of the girls and the amount of toughness they showed in this one,” head coach Anna Nimz said. “But even more than that I think they showed a lot of resiliency after losing two close games in a row down the stretch. We handled runs well today and came out fighting right from the jump. When they have the energy we saw today and play with it, that’s a special thing.”
NSU came out firing from the opening tip with Jiselle Woodson ripping a three from the corner off the opening tip. Her second triple in the first three minutes of the game put the Demons up 7-2 before the Privateers scored seven straight to hold on to the slim 13-12 lead at the end of the period.
Their lead lasted just a little bit longer than the typical quarter break as Sharna Ayres knocked down the second of her five 3-pointers on the day to open the second quarter, immediately getting the Demons into their groove. They would not trail the rest of the way.
NSU dominated the final three minutes of both the second and third quarters, seizing all the momentum going into the half and into the final 10 minutes of the game.
A 10-4 run closed out the half with Ayres draining another trey to start the run, Nia Hardison sinking another and Jordan Todd working around the basket to pick up four points. UNO’s only made field goal over the final five minutes of the half, a jumper with 29 seconds left, made it a 29-21 NSU lead at the break.
The Demons forced three turnovers, committed just one turnover and grabbed all three defensive rebounds during that stretch against one of the best rebounding and turnover causing teams in the league.
“We put together a collective 40 minute game,” Nimz said. “Basketball is going to have its ups and downs but kids were feeling it today. They looked for one another. They made the reads and they were a hard team to guard today.”
The Privateers made one final push to get back into the game connecting on back-to-back 3-pointers early in the third quarter, but an answering triple from Karmelah Dean kept them at bay, setting the stage for the pivotal run to help seal the day.
Neither team scored over the next two minutes until an Ayres transition trey, off a steal on the other end, ignited the clinching 13-2 stretch to close the period. NSU went 4-for-6 from the field from that point forward, scoring on three straight possessions to blitz ahead 44-32.
Woodson provided energy jolts with an acrobatic finish in the lane to draw the foul and make the free throw and put an exclamation point on the run with her 3-pointer as time expired, getting the open shot around a double screen from Ayres and Jenny Ntambwe.
“That was a statement after a bit of flat start to the quarter,” Nimz said. “We played with more poise. We executed offensively. Gapped and guarded really well defensively and stuck to the game plan. You saw a lot of maturity in that stretch that we’ve seen at times in other games.”
The Demons shot 48 percent from the field in the second half and went 5-for-10 from beyond the arc to outscored UNO 43-22 over the final 20 minutes. Woodson scored 11 of her game-high 19 points in the second half, Dean put in eight points with five assists and Ntambwe added seven.
Defensively the Demons kept the Privateers to a 24 percent effort in the second half, allowing just two made field goals in the fourth quarter.
“I think we’re absolutely good enough to be in the top three in the conference, we’ve just let some things slide,” Nimz said. “If they can stay committed to correcting ourselves, they have a shot. I believe in them no matter what. Happy they got such a big win. Happy that we get to go get ice cream. And happy that we get to go home with a split on the road because that is never easy to do.”
Woodson led all scorers with 19 and Ayres picked up her second career double-double with a 16-point, 10-rebound effort. Dean finished the game with eight assists, three more than her previous career high.