In a matchup of two of the best defenses in the Southland Conference, once again it was the Northwestern State women’s basketball team that stood the tallest.
Northwestern (10-9, 7-4) held visiting Nicholls (10-9, 6-6) to just 31.5 percent shooting and allowed the Colonels just 10 points in the final period, as the Lady Demons took home a 57-47 victory on Thursday evening at Prather Coliseum to complete a season sweep of the Colonels.
“I am really proud of them,” head coach Anna Nimz said. “I thought they showed a lot of intelligence down the stretch. A lot of individual players came up with a lot of big plays. Carla (Celaya) had 10 rebounds for us. Clarence (Djuela) had big baskets early in the fourth. Both of them played tremendous defense as well.
“Vee Atamah had 16 points in 15 minutes, which showed maturity on her part to come in and out and just sit a majority of the game (due to foul trouble). There were a lot of positives to take from this game, but we have to stop throwing the ball away.”
The Demons remained perfect (10-0) when holding their opponent to less than 60 points.
While the defense earned most of the credit, and rightfully so, the offense stepped up in a big way in the fourth.
Atamah came through when the team needed her the most.
Picking up her fourth foul early in the fourth, she was forced to sit until 4:09 to play with the Demons clinging to a 45-42 lead.
Ahead 45-44, Atamah scored seven straight to push a one-point lead to 52-47, highlighted by a left-wing triple with 3:05 left to put the Demons up 48-44.
She scored nine of her team-high 16 points in the final 4:09, lifting up an offense that had just scored 10 points in the first 16 minutes of the second half.
While Atamah closed out the win, Clarence Djuela kept Northwestern afloat early in the period after Atamah picked up her fourth foul.
A 13-0 run spanning the third and fourth quarters by Nicholls tied the score at 39-39 early in the fourth before Djuela scored on two nifty turnaround hook shots to give the Demons a lead they never relinquished.
“In the moment, I didn’t even realize how much my shots got us going,” Djuela said. “I just had come back from a poor third quarter and I was pretty frustrated with myself that I was not connecting on my shots at the rim. But Coach told me to go out there and do your thing and the shots will fall.”
With Atamah missing most of the first half, Nya Valentine (13 points) and Tiara Abron (14) picked up the slack.
In the final 10 minutes, Northwestern took over, outscoring Nicholls 18-10 including12-3 in the final 3:05.
“This game was really important,” Celaya said, after her fourth double digit rebounding game in the last eight. “In past games, we were lacking toughness. Today, it was an important game to be tough and together. There were times we didn’t handle their runs, but we fixed it and showed we can be tougher than the other team. Together, we achieved everything.”
The Lady Demons hit the road for three in a row, starting Saturday against New Orleans. NSU then travels to Lamar (Feb. 5) and East Texas A&M (Feb. 7) before coming home for five in a row, starting with hosting league-leading McNeese on Feb. 12.
The Northwestern men also visit UNO Saturday and host Nicholls Monday night in Prather Coliseum.
