SAN ANTONIO, Texas – After two starkly different halves, Northwestern State could not overcome a late run in overtime against UIW, falling to the Cardinals 67-60 on Thursday night.
The thorn in the Lady Demons’ (10-11, 3-7) side in Natchitoches, UIW’s Jaaucklyn Moore, was that once again in San Antonio. She scored 15 points in the first half to keep the game close, made the game-tying shot in the final seconds of regulation and put UIW (8-13, 4-6) ahead with back-to-back shots in overtime as part of the 10-0 run that sealed the game.
“What it comes down to is when a kid is shooting absolutely unconsciously and no matter how many times, we say don’t let her out of sight and she still makes a 3, that’s coachability,” head coach Anna Nimz said. “You’ve got to make somebody else beat you. We’re saying slow it down to win it in regulation and we go fast and throw the ball away and we go to overtime.
“Now, it’s not all that, we got outrebounded 55-38, gave up 17 points on turnovers and they had 14 second-chance points. They played their tails off; you can’t discredit how hard they played but we have to have poise when we’re playing basketball and we just don’t have it right now.”
NSU held a six-point lead with 3:36 remaining after Alecia Whyte slipped through the defense for a layup that gave her a double-double in the game, the first of her career, with 10 points and 11 rebounds. That was the final field goal of the quarter for NSU as Moore made her seventh 3-pointer of the game on the ensuing possession, starting the 7-1 run that finished regulation and sent the game to overtime.
Another curse for the Lady Demons in the game was the disparity on the offensive glass, which proved even more costly in the biggest of moments.
Ahead by two in overtime, a pair of Cardinal offensive rebounds led to Moore’s second game-tying shot of the game to even things at 60, sparking the UIW offense to make the next two attempts after defensive rebounds on NSU misses, sealing the game.
The ineffectiveness from both team’s offenses in the second half and overtime, where they combined to score just 33 points and go 14-for-57 (.245) from the field, was vastly different from the first 20 minutes.
NSU shot 55 percent from the field in the first half, getting contribution up and down roster with four players scoring six or more points in the first two quarters.
Sharna Ayres had eight points in the half and started a 9-0 run at the second quarter media timeout with a 3-pointer that gave NSU a 28-22 lead. She stepped into a wide-open transition 3-pointer with 30 seconds remaining to out the Lady Demons up 38-32.
Moore answered with her final 3-pointer of the half near the buzzer, giving her 15 of UIW’s 35 points.
Outside of Moore’s heroics, the NSU defense clamped down the rest of the Cardinals, holding them to an 8-for-25 shooting effort from the field, forcing four first-half shot clock violations and blocking five shots.
Jasmin Dixon matched her career high, set in the first game against UIW, with four blocks in the first half. Todd just missed her second straight double-double with 10 points and nine rebounds and Parramore joined her and Whyte in double figures with 13 with a career-high five assists.
“I thought a lot of kids did a lot of really good things,” Nimz said. “But we took very unwarranted shots. It’s disappointing. We don’t have the seniority or that person that says give me the ball, let’s slow it down.
“We’re playing very much a brand-new team and no matter how many games in we are it doesn’t subtract from the fact that, being a transfer or JUCO kid however you see it, none of them had that role at their last school. I think girls do a good job of leading at times, but we don’t have that one that says give me the ball and I’m going to make some smart decisions.”
The Lady Demons finish the road portion of their schedule on Saturday at 1 p.m. at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.
Photo: Chris Reich, NSU Photographic Services
