Women’s Basketball — Offensive struggles cost Lady Demons at UIW

SAN ANTONIO – A slow start turned into a long night for Northwestern State in a 76-39 loss to the University of Incarnate Word on Wednesday.

The Lady Demons (6-17, 3-11) could not find anything on the offensive end through the first 10 minutes of the game. NSU scored just two points, both from the free throw line and went 0-for-8 from the field, allowing UIW (11-11, 7-6) to build a huge lead midway through the second quarter.

“This was a tough one,” interim head coach Aaron Swinson said. “I wasn’t expecting this. I want them to play aggressive. I didn’t want them to back down and I think that’s what we did.

“We held them without a basket for a long time but when they started making some, we regressed instead of playing our game. I think sometimes when we don’t make shots, we get real down on ourselves and that hurts us a lot.”

The early saving grace for the Lady Demons was that UIW also got off to a slow start. The Cardinals missed their first eight attempts from the field before the first of six 3-point shots from Angelica Wiggins found the net at the 4:22 mark of the first quarter.

Her trey created the only lead change of the game, making it a 3-1 game passed the midway point of the opening quarter. Wiggins drained another 3 at the end of the framer to bookend the 13-1 run that gave UIW all the cushion they would need for a win.

Kira Bonner opened the second quarter with her first bucket of the game, and the Lady Demons’ first field goal, on a 3-pointer from the right corner. UIW responded with a 14-4 run that made it a 27-9 game with 5:29 remaining in the first half.

After turning the ball over an average of 16.5 times in the past two games, including a season-low 14 against Abilene Christian, the Lady Demons committed 13 turnovers in the first half against UIW. They ended the game with 22 but the damage had been through the first 20 minutes.

The Cardinals led 40-15 going into the half.

“It goes back to practicing how we play,” Swinson said. “Even before we left, I was telling them that they had to bring the effort. You can not sit back and think that this team is going to give us an easy win.

We want to go down there and play as hard as we can against a team that we know we need to beat in order to stay in the race. When we prepare a certain way from a defensive standpoint they have to carry it over.”

UIW shot a blistering 62 percent in the second quarter. The drop off was only slight in the second half with 48 percent clip over the final 20 minutes. Despite the drop in turnovers for the Lady Demons, they still could not find the offense they needed.

NSU went 5-for-24 from the field in the second half, not nearly enough to erase the 25-point half time deficit.

“I talk about short-term amnesia,” Swinson said. “If you miss a shot it’s over, you get back and play defense. This game is over right now. There’s nothing we can do about it. What we can do is get back on the bus, get back to Natchitoches, go to class tomorrow, lift weights, go to practice and move forward to the next game.

“We can’t hold our heads down; we’ve got to regroup. We will because we’re going to put forth the effort to get a win on Saturday. It’s not going to be easy, but we have to prepare to win. We can’t have lulls throughout practice. We have to continue to go hard.”

The Lady Demons host McNeese at 1 p.m. on Saturday afternoon as a part of a doubleheader day with the NSU men. It will also serve as senior day for six Lady Demons players.

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