Women’s Basketball — Offensive frustration leads to Lady Demons loss to HBU

NATCHITOCHES – A solid defensive effort through the first three quarters for Northwestern State provided the chance for the first win of the season. Frustratingly, the offense wasn’t up to the task as the Lady Demons lost to Houston Baptist 71-36 on Saturday afternoon.

Similar to the first game between the two teams a month ago, the Huskies (7-5, 3-2) jumped on to a sizeable lead in their first quarter. A 3-pointer from Anessa Dussette out of the media timeout created a tiny spark for the Lady Demons (0-13, 0-8) that made it a 13-5 game.

NSU outscored HBU 8-7 in the final four minutes of the quarter preventing the same kind of insurmountable deficit it saw after the first 10 minutes in Houston.

Freshman Osha Cummings opened the second with a jumper to cut into the lead, but her basket was immediately answered on the other end with a 3 from Enya Maguire to push it back to double figures.

NSU trailed by as much as 16 in the quarter before an 8-2 run pulled it back within 10. The Lady Demons had a chance to cut it to single digits with a minute to go when a good look by Dussette from deep rimmed out, one of 15 missed 3s in the game.

HBU capitalized on the miss with a layup on the other end and one more as time expired for a late seven-point swing that made it a 36-22 game at the half.

A change to the second half lineup for NSU paid immediate dividends in the third quarter. Dussette was joined by Alexia Marsh, Kalen Green, Julia Sion and Andreea Cojocariu locking down the HBU offense giving up just one basket on six attempts and forcing eight turnovers through the first six-plus minutes of the quarter.

While the effort was certainly there on defense, it did not translate to the offensive side during that same stretch. NSU went 0-for-8 from the floor with its only point coming on a Green free throw early in the quarter.

“The group that played together there in the start of the second had a really good couple days of practice and played with a lot of passion and energy,” first-year head coach Anna Nimz said. “In hindsight maybe we should have started them from the jump, but they did a tremendous job and kept us in the fight. As much as I love to be really good at defense you still have to score the ball.”

Missing the chance to climb back in the game would ultimately cost the Lady Demons in the fourth quarter. HBU found the adjustment it needed and filled the basket with 24 points on 64 percent shooting in the final 10 minutes to pull away for the big victory.

NSU shot 22 percent from the field, six percent from beyond the arc and 50 percent from the free throw line in the game.

“We’ve got to work harder,” Nimz said. “That’s the bottom line. Energy, effort and passion win out, but until we have a collective effort there, we’re going to have some frustrating days.”