BATON ROUGE – A relentless pace and stifling defense proved too much for Northwestern State against No. 15 LSU in a 100-45 loss on Sunday afternoon. 

The Lady Demons (1-3) created havoc on defense in the early part of the game, forcing a pair of Tiger turnovers and missed shots. For the second straight game Sharna Ayres opened the NSU scoring with a 3-pointer that cut the LSU lead down to one at three minutes into the game. 

Against the length and quickness of the Tiger defense, the Lady Demons saw plenty of spurts of sound team basketball, creating good looks both around the basket and on the perimeter. 

Shelby Rayner knocked down an open mid-range jumper from the left block then found a perfect bounce pass underneath to a cutting Jiselle Woodson for a layup to end the first quarter. 

That was Woodson’s only basket of the quarter that set her on a hot streak through the first five minutes of the second quarter. 

She scored on two of three possessions for the Demons within the span of a minute early in the quarter, hitting a pull-up jumper on a fast break and then a 3-pointer a minute later. She scored seven of her team-best 15 points in the first four minutes of the second quarter. 

The Tigers’ transition offense took off after the second quarter media timeout though. LSU scored 20 points in the final five minutes, using seven steals during that stretch to convert six straight field goals to close the half and take a 60-25 lead into the break. 

Woodson had her hands all over multiple key plays in the second half as well. 

Her feed to Gabrielle Robinson-Forde in the paint led to an easy layup and she scored again on an inbound pass with just three seconds left on the shot clock within two minutes of each other. 

Freshman Kayla Hampton also provided a late spark in the fourth quarter scoring two quick buckets with two minutes remaining the in game taking a rebound coast-to-coast for a layup then sinking a jumper on the next possession. 

The Lady Demons held LSU to its lowest point total in a quarter (11) this season over the final 10 minutes. 

Woodson led NSU with 15 points and three assists, Shelby Rayner had nine points with a pair of 3s and Sharna Ayres finished with eight going 5-for-5 from the free throw line. 

Photo Credit: Chris Reich, NSU Photographic Services