LAKE CHARLES—After a sluggish first half, the fifth-seeded Northwestern State women’s basketball team came alive in the second half to turn a nine-point deficit into a 69-56 victory over No. 8 East Texas A&M Monday in the opening round of the Southland Conference Tournament at Townsley Law Arena.
Northwestern (18-13) advances to meet No. 4 UT-Rio Grande Valley (19-12) in the quarterfinals today at 11 a.m. The teams split during the games this season, with the Lady Demons walking away with a 64-59 overtime road win in the last meeting 10 days ago.
East Texas A&M (13-17) rode its own hot shooting and NSU’s inaccuracy (26 percent aim) to build a 20-7 lead that was 32-23 Lions at halftime.
“We were resilient,” Northwestern coach Anna Nimz said. “In the second half compared to the first, we defended and rebounded. We challenged them at half because we got into some foul trouble in the first half because we didn’t necessarily guard intelligently. Coming out of half, I think they did a nice job of that. The bench production came out and were big, keeping us in the game and cutting it to nine at halftime. It was a collective team effort.”
NSU scored 15 unanswered points in the fourth quarter as the cornerstone of an extended 32-10 run to overtake, then pull away from the Lions, thanks to Vernell “Vee” Atamah.
After being benched four minutes into the game by two fouls, the SLC Player of the Year scored 14 of her 19 points in the fourth quarter.
She also made history in the process, as her triple to break a 45-45 deadlock gave her the school single-season 3-point record.
“I knew that whenever I was to go back in, I had to give it my all,” Atamah said. “Going into the fourth quarter, there was no promised game after this one, so I knew I had to give it my all in that fourth quarter and that is what I did.”
The Demons roared to life after shaking out of a 3-point shooting nightmare. In the first three quarters, NSU went 1-for-14. In the fourth, it was a whole different story, as the Demons made their first three triples and buried four in the final period.
Down by three early in the fourth, Atamah scored on a basket and foul before her record-breaking 3-pointer. Carla Celaya had a steal and layup to put Northwestern on top 50-45, forcing an East Texas A&M timeout.
That was followed by another Celaya layup, a layup from Tiara Abron and another 3-pointer from Atamah and NSU was off and running with a 57-45 lead.
The lead never was under nine the rest of the way.
In the final period, second-team All-SLC pick Nya Valentine had another strong finish, scoring five of her 17 points and dishing out two of her four assists.
The Demons outrebounded the Lions 53-26. Northwestern has beaten its last nine opponents on the boards, with seven of the last eight margins by double digits.
In the first half, after Atamah went to the bench, the Lions used a 17-2 run in the first quarter to build their largest lead at 20-7.
ET’s Nina Horvath, who came in shooting below 27 percent from deep, made all four of her 3-point attempts in the first half, including a banked in one. In the second half, the Demons held her scoreless.
Backup players rose to the occasion for Northwestern.
Freshman center Cimiya Rideaux made impact off the bench. She scored a career-high 10 points, including one at the end of the third quarter to cut it to 43-42.
“The bench was phenomenal,” Nimz said. “I told everybody in the locker room that it is going to take the entire team to make it through the conference tournament. I thought the bench did a tremendous job, keeping the score within nine at halftime. That is big credit to every kid who played.”
Celaya had seven points, 13 rebounds and five assists, while Clarence Djuela secured 10 rebounds.
The Demons helped themselves immensely from the free throw line, going 14-of-15.
