Women’s Basketball — Trio of runs allows SFA to complete season sweep of Northwestern State

NACOGDOCHES, Texas – When longtime rivals Northwestern State and Stephen F. Austin met in January, the Lady Demons nearly completed a remarkable comeback.

In the rematch Saturday afternoon at William R. Johnson Coliseum, Northwestern State were unable to recapture that late-game magic.

Homestanding Stephen F. Austin built a 19-point halftime lead and the Ladyjacks did not let up in the second half, cruising to an 83-48 Southland Conference victory.

“Fatigue set in,” said second-year head coach Jordan Dupuy, whose team played with eight available players for the second straight game. “We’re going to ride with who we’ve got. We were down to six (at the end). You play with the hand you’re dealt. We’ll go get prepared for our next game.”

The Ladyjacks (19-4, 11-1) swept the season series from the Lady Demons (7-17, 2-11) after grabbing a 70-62 victory in Natchitoches on Jan. 6.

Two big first-half runs helped Stephen F. Austin build its halftime lead. After Northwestern State scored six of the game’s first seven points, Stephen F. Austin scored 17 of the final 21 points of the first quarter.

In the second quarter, the Ladyjacks used a 14-2 run, pushing the lead to as many as 20 points.

Stephen F. Austin, which entered the game shooting 30 percent from 3-point range, connected on 8 of 17 first-half 3-point tries, part of a 48-percent shooting effort from the floor in the opening 20 minutes.

The Ladyjacks finished the game 13-for-27 from 3-point range against a Northwestern State defense that ranked second in the conference in 3-point percentage defense (28.4).

Another run, this one in the third quarter, helped Stephen F. Austin answer an early second-half NSU surge.

The Lady Demons cut the lead to 14 on a Jocelyn Scott 3-pointer with 7:02 to play in the third quarter. From there, the Ladyjacks scored 16 straight points, building their largest lead of the game at that point (30 points), before Victoria Miller ended the run with a free-throw line jumper.

Northwestern State shot 43.2 percent from the field, but the Lady Demons were unable to overcome another turnover-prone performance. The Lady Demons committed 26 turnovers that Stephen F. Austin turned into 31 points.

“They do a great job of keeping you off-balance,” Dupuy said. “Several of those were our fault. When you get the ball in the middle of the floor and break the press, they’re trained to come behind and tip it away. Of our 26 turnovers, I bet 10 of those were off of that.”

Miller paced Northwestern State with a career-high 13 points while the Ladyjacks put four players in double figures led by Chanell Hayes’ 17 points. Stevi Parker added 15 points, Lovissa Brunnberg chipped in 13 and Marissa Banfield added 11 for Stephen F. Austin.

“Vic was the most consistent scorer for us throughout the game,” Dupuy said. “We still need to find a couple of scorers. I’m proud of how we continue to fight and with our good attitude. We’re just going to keep plugging away.”

The Lady Demons return to action Wednesday night as they wrap up a season-long, three-game road trip at Houston Baptist. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m. at Sharp Gym.