While its seed line at the upcoming Southland Conference Tournament is locked into place, the Northwestern State women’s basketball team still has still plenty to play for in the regular season finale tonight at 6:30 on Mike McConathy Court at Prather Coliseum.
The Lady Demons (16-13 overall, 13-8 SLC) bring a two-game win streak into hosting New Orleans (3-26, 3-18). NSU is locked into the No. 5 seed in the SLC Tournament, but has plenty to chase.
The 13 conference wins are the most since 2016-17. With a victory, it will be the most conference wins since also posting 14 during the 2003-04 SLC championship season.
“We are looking forward to playing in Prather one final time this season in front of our home crowd,” head coach Anna Nimz said. “Our main focus is correcting our mistakes from the first time we played UNO and growing off our last two games against Corpus and UT-Rio Grande Valley.
“We need to lock in, play hard and inch closer and closer to 40 minutes of good game play. We have the opportunity to fight for one final regular season conference win, against a very gritty UNO team, and put together our most conference wins over the last 23 years.“
Coming off a game in which the Demons made 13 3-pointers against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, they now play UNO, the opponent in which they also drained 13 deep shots against in the first meeting.
Vernell Atamah made five of the 3-pointers in the win Saturday at AMCC, and her triple total is at 85 this season, just three shy of the program’s record for single season 3-pointers of 88, set by Beatrice Attura in 2016-17.
Nya Valentine also buried five triples in the win at AMCC, giving her 67 on the season, and she has gone 10-for-21 from deep in the last two games.
Atamah and Valentine have combined for 152 of the 217 made 3-pointers by the Demons this season, as the team is on the verge of breaking the program’s single season 3-point record of 223, set last season.
The Demons used the deep ball to jump out to a 20-2 advantage in the first meeting in New Orleans, making six 3-pointers in the first 5:04 en route to a dominant 78-61 road victory.
In addition to the graduate student Valentine, Carla Celaya, Tiara Abron and Dasia Turner will play the final home game of their careers.
Next up is a trip to the SLC Tournament in Lake Charles, which begins for the Demons on Monday, March 9 against the No. 8 seed, either East Texas A&M or Nicholls, at 11 a.m.
DEMONS BOW, BUT MOVE FORWARD: A furious second-half push wasn’t enough for the Northwestern men’s basketball team as UT-Rio Grande Valley used a pair of decisive runs to pull away late and hand the Demons a 74-62 loss Monday night inside the UTRGV Fieldhouse.
The Demons earlier clinched the No. 7 seed in the Southland Conference Tournament and will face sixth-seeded Nicholls on Sunday at 7:30 p.m. at McNeese’s Townsley Law Arena in Lake Charles.
“It’s a new season,” head coach Rick Cabrera said. “We’re capable of beating anybody on a neutral court. I have to get their minds back and not allow this game to affect the rest of our season.”
After trimming the deficit Monday night to three midway through the second half, NSU saw the Vaqueros respond with a 12-2 surge that reestablished control and ultimately sealed the regular-season finale.
“Credit to UTRGV for being tougher, being more physical,” Cabrera said. “They set a statement from the minute that the game started. I want to give them more praise than anything, but we weren’t very tough, which is very disappointing. Didn’t do tough things to win games, didn’t get 50-50 balls. Even though we outrebounded them, we didn’t get the important rebounds.”
The Demons (10-21, 8-14) were carried by Willie Williams, who recorded his seventh double-double of the season with 18 points and 10 rebounds.
“At times it felt like Willie was just out there by himself,” Cabrera said. “He was a monster. He wasn’t perfect, but nobody’s perfect in a game. Willie was a lifesaver. He kept us in the game. If he didn’t get the tough rebounds, I don’t know who was getting them. But we need somebody else to step up and help him.”
Winning its ninth straight and locking up the third seed in the SLC Tournament, UTRGV (18-13, 14-8) closed the game on a 9-2 stretch and shot efficiently down the stretch, capitalizing on second-chance opportunities and timely perimeter shooting to stretch the margin to double digits in the three minutes.