The Northwestern State volleyball team took a big step toward qualifying for the eight-team Southland Conference Tournament next week with an upset win at UT-Rio Grande Valley Saturday, while NSU’s basketball teams dropped road games.
WOMEN’S BASKETBALL: After staying in range much of the game Friday at Arkansas, NSU has another opportunity to improve visiting No. 22 Oklahoma State (2-0) for a Monday morning (11 o’clock) contest.
The game will be streamed on ESPN+. OSU is the first of two ranked opponents the Demons face this season.
“I’ve known their coach Jacie (Hoyt) for some time now and she does a great job,” new NSU coach Alan Frey said. “She has put together a roster that can compete for a national championship. Even the way her team competed in the NCAA Tournament last year, I was so impressed with the way she coached against UCLA, the team that won the national championship.
“I am so excited about going in there and playing them and seeing what we can do against a national level team like that in a hostile environment against a friend.”
Friday, junior KP Parr scored a career-high 20 points in an 89-59 loss at Arkansas on 7-of-10 shooting from the field along with grabbing five rebounds and dishing out four assists.
In her two games, she has begun her NSU career nicely, shooting 9-of-14 from the field and averaging 7.5 assists and 4.5 rebounds per game.
The Lady Demons wrap up a three-game road trip with a visit to in-state foe Louisiana Tech on Thursday before coming back home for a matchup with LSU-Shreveport on Nov. 16.
MEN’S BASKETBALL: Murray State pulled away down the stretch Saturday night in the Bluegrass State for a 93-71 victory on its homecourt despite 24 points from Kentucky native Kai Simpson for the Demons.
“I’m really proud of our guys,” NSU coach Rick Cabrera said. “We put ourselves in position to win the game. I’ve got to give credit to Murray for sticking with the game plan, making big shots and getting stops. Our defense was really good for a long period of time, especially our switching defense. They are an NCAA Tournament-type team.”
Through the first 30-plus minutes of the game, the Demons (0-3) and Racers (2-0) were locked in a see-saw battle with no team building more than an eight-point edge.
The first half of the final 20 minutes saw the Demons erase an eight-point deficit to take a pair of leads, including a 62-60 edge with 11:10 to play after Simpson completed a three-point play.
That was the final lead of the night for Northwestern, playing without three rotation players because of injury.
The Demons finished the game 1-for-10 from the field.
“Our main dudes were playing heavy minutes, and it turned into some tough shots and missed defensive assignments,” Cabrera said.
Despite that, Northwestern sank a season-best 50 percent of its shot and was 7-for-12 from 3-point range.
Joining Simpson in the Demons’ double-figure scoring group were Nathan Ojukwu (15 points, team-high six assists) and freshman Antoine Almuttar (10 points).
Northwestern plays at home Tuesday night against Millsaps.
VOLLEYBALL: Senior Jade Longlad’s 54 assists along with freshman Olivia Nzioki’s 18 kills helped propel the Demons to a key Southland Conference road win Saturday afternoon over the UT- Rio Grande Valley Vaqueros 3-1 (25-22, 26-24, 21-25 and 26-24) in Edinburg, Texas.
The Demons (14-15, 6-8 SLC) also got a career-high 15 kills by Elizabeth Muguruza while Elsie Sanchez added 12. NSU collected 73 digs led by Emmarie McFarland with 18.
“We played a great match today,” said Kaszeta. “So collective on both sides of the net. Our kids not only handled pressure but were able to keep the pressure on them today too. A very good team win today.”
The outcome moved Northwestern close to clinching a Southland Tournament berth. The Demons split the season series with the Vaqueros (14-11, 10-4 SLC). NSU will take on the East Texas A&M Lions (11-16, 5-9 SLC) Thursday night at Prather Coliseum then visit the Lions to wrap the regular season Saturday.