Late rally sinks Lady Demons at UIW

SAN ANTONIO – In a defensive clinic by both teams, it was a pair of costly miscues by Northwestern State in the fourth quarter that led to its 53-45 loss on Saturday afternoon.

The Demons (9-16, 5-9) held UIW (15-9, 8-5) in check for the first 30 minutes of the game. The defense limited them to just 29 total points through three quarters and a combined 11-for-39 shooting effort from the field.

The difference came over the final 10 minutes as a hot start for the Cardinals helped them get their hands on the momentum. Two NSU turnovers at the beginning of an eventual 12-2 UIW tun to close the game put the momentum firmly in their grasp to close out the game.

“We fought the same battle with turnovers again today,” head coach Anna Nimz said. “So many good moments but not enough to outshine those giveaways. We just have to keep chopping wood and committing to working on us. This team has a lot more to give, and I believe that they will.”

NSU turned the ball over 17 times in the game, 10 of those coming in the second half. Although they had just four in the fourth quarter, those four led to a game-high nine points for the Cardinals.

The Demons gave UIW fits all game long both in transition and around the basket. Jenny Ntambwe was able to use her athleticism and ability off the bounce to slice through the Cardinal defense time and time again.

The sophomore transfer scored seven of her game-high 20 points on the day in the third quarter as NSU was able to stretch their slim lead to two possessions by the end of the period. Jermesha Frierson knocked in a pair of free throws with less than a minute left to put the Demons up 35-29 heading to the fourth.

NSU held the Cardinals without a field goal for more than seven straight minutes of the third quarter and a 3-for-10 overall effort from the field. That came after they held the Cardinals to the same 3-for-10 shooting total throughout the entire second quarter.

Points on their first five possessions of the fourth quarter however began to swing the momentum away from the Demons. UIW made as many shots from the field in the first two minutes of the fourth quarter as they did in each of the previous two 10-minute periods.

After being limited on the offensive end to that point, and with the Demons down by three, Sharna Ayres rattled home her 3-pointer of the game at the 6:24 mark of the fourth, tying things at 40. She hit another two trips later to put the Demons back on top 43-41.

The triples were her 60th and 61st of the season, the most in the Southland Conference, making her the 12thplayer in NSU history to make 60 or more 3-pointers in a single season. She is now tied with Janelle Perez for the ninth most made 3s in a season with four regular season games remaining this year.

After the Cardinals tied the game on a layup, back-to-back turnovers on NSU’s next two offensive possessions led to immediate points for UIW. A 3-pointer from Nina De Leon Negron and a runout layup by Jorja Elliot accounted for five points in the span of 40 seconds, pushed the lead back to five and gave all the momentum to the home squad.

UIW started the fourth quarter going 3-for-4 from the field and the closed it by going 4-for-4 on a 12-2 stretch to steal another win from the Demons.

Ntambwe led all scorers with 20 points and added eight rebounds as NSU, for the ninth straight game, won the rebounding battle (37-33), but for the sixth time during that stretch came up short in the win/loss column.