Wildcats’ 3-point barrage downs Lady Demons

ABILENE, Texas – Abilene Christian’s strength was stronger than Northwestern State’s on Saturday afternoon.

The Southland Conference’s top 3-point shooting team rode its most potent weapon to a double-figure halftime lead and set the tone for an 80-41 victory against the Lady Demons, handing NSU its fifth straight loss.

“There’s been an issue where we come out of the locker room and don’t play hard to start the half,”second-year coach Jordan Dupuy said. “We’ve got to get to a point where we stop talking about what we’re going to do and go do it. We let them dictate everything today. We had 10 missed layups. That’s 20 points right there. We had careless turnovers. We played a lot of selfish basketball.”

For the third straight game, the Lady Demons (5-11, 0-5) faced a double-figure halftime deficit. Unlike the previous two, Northwestern State was unable to cut into the deficit.

Abilene Christian (12-4, 6-0) continued to shoot the ball well from the 3-point line in the second half, hitting five 3s in the third quarter, building a 29-point lead after three quarters. The Wildcats finished the game 12-for-27 from 3-point range, hitting 44.4 percent of their long-range attempts against a Lady Demons defense that entered the game leading the Southland Conference in 3-point percentage defense at 26 percent.

Breanna Wright led the Wildcats’ 3-point barrage, knocking down her first four long-range tries and finishing with five 3s among her game-high 21 points. Dominique Golightly added 16 points for the Wildcats.

While the Wildcats were efficient offensively, the Lady Demons scuffled on that side. Northwestern State shot 24 percent from the field, its second-lowest output of the season and its lowest in five conference games.

Nautica Grant led Northwestern State with 11 points, reaching double figures for the fifth time in as many Southland Conference games.

After cutting Abilene Christian’s lead to 12 just before halftime, the Lady Demons were outscored 45-18 in the second half as the Wildcats connected on 15 of 28 field goals (53.6 percent), including 6-for-11 shooting from 3-point range.

“We’ve got to figure out something pretty quick,” Dupuy said. “We’ve got to get this thing turned around. It starts with a mentality that we don’t have right now.”

The Lady Demons return home for a quick stop Wednesday, hosting Sam Houston State at 6:30 p.m. inside Prather Coliseum. Following the game against the Bearkats, Northwestern State plays two straight on the road.