NEW ORLEANS — Mya Blake and Vernell Atamah combined for 57 points, 31 by Blake leading the Northwestern State women’s basketball team to a 76-74 comeback victory in the Demons’ regular-season road finale at New Orleans on Saturday afternoon in Lakefront Arena.
A pair of Blake free throws with 47 seconds left broke a 74-74 deadlock and Northwestern State (13-13, 10-7) held on to snap a three-game losing streak and keep the Demons in the mix for a bye in the upcoming Southland Conference Tournament. The 13 wins are the program’s most since also winning 13 in 2016-17.
“I’m very proud of the fight down the stretch,” head coach Anna Nimz said. “We had not won a close game yet, and they found a way to win…and that’s what good teams do.”
The charity stripe loomed large for the Demons. For the game, they made 23-of-32 from the free throw line, but came through in crunch time, burying 12-of-15 at the line in the fourth quarter.
Despite leading for much of the game, UNO (3-23, 3-14) couldn’t hold off NSU’s rally.
Down three with two minutes to play, the Demons made 5-of-6 down the stretch and the defense held the Privateers off the scoreboard, limiting them to 0-for-5 from the field and a turnover and UNO also missed a pair of free throws.
Despite shooting sub-30 percent from 3-point range going in, UNO hit 9-of-18 from deep, many of which stopped Demons runs and kept them at arm’s length.
UNO’s Nora Francois, coming off a triple-double last game, poured in 20 points Saturday, missed a jumper as time expired to seal the outcome.
UNO led by as many as seven in the fourth quarter, but Northwestern outscored UNO 25-17 in the final 10 minutes to win.
Atamah finished one rebound shy of her third consecutive double-double, posting 26 points and nine boards after finishing with 29 points and 11 rebounds in the first meeting.
Now Northwestern heads home to Prather Coliseum for the final three games of the season, beginning with a massive game against UIW on Thursday before finishing up the season with Houston Christian and East Texas A&M.