RUSTON — Northwestern State renews a long-dormant women’s basketball rivalry tonight, as it makes the short trip to battle Louisiana Tech.
Tipoff is at 6:30 at the Thomas Assembly Center with ESPN+ coverage of the contest between the Lady Demons (1-2) and the Lady Techsters (3-0).
NSU ends a three-game road swing. While the Demons lost their last two games while visiting power conference teams, they showed major flashes, led by the play of point guard KP Parr.
Parr has scored 38 points combined in the previous two games on the road against Arkansas and Oklahoma State, including a career-high 20 against the Razorbacks.
Parr, a Texas State transfer, is in the top three on the team in scoring (14.7), rebounding (5.0) and assists (6.0). After making just 9-of-53 from deep in her first two seasons, she is off to a fast start from deep, going 4-of-7 in the first three games and 4-of-5 in the last two.
She is also shooting 56 percent from the field.
“Whether I try to score or facilitate depends on what my team needs me to do in order to win,” Parr said. “Obviously, the first game Chloe (Donnell) got really hot (an NCAA record-tying 14 3-pointers in a 46-point performance), so scoring wasn’t on my mind at all. It was just about getting her the ball. In the last two games, I needed to be a little bit more of a scorer since we were struggling to find easier buckets like we had in the first game. I just try to do whatever I can to get us a win.”
Her fellow point guard, Karma Wynn, is also off to a nice start, averaging seven points and 3.7 assists per game, scoring 11 points last time out against OSU.
Despite the power conference teams having more size, the Demons held their own against OSU in the battle on the boards, grabbing 10 offensive rebounds and held All-American post player Audi Crooks to just five rebounds and only one on the offensive glass.
The Lady Techsters are off to an impressive start, which includes a trip to Lake Charles where they dominated reigning Southland Conference regular season champion McNeese 82-59 this past Sunday.
“They are really good,” new NSU coach Alan Frey said. “They play a style that I’d like to get to eventually here. They are an impressive defensive team, the way they pressure teams. They just beat McNeese handily, and McNeese won our league last year.
“They are a scary team, and it will be a good test for us. While they are not a P4 team, everyone knows what they are, and they have a really good roster.”
Tech head coach Brooke Stoehr, her husband and assistant Scott Stoehr, and assistant Olivia Grayson all previously coached at Northwestern. The programs haven’t met in over a decade, since a 69-57 NSU win in Prather Coliseum in Stoehr’s second season as the Lady Demons’ coach in 2014-15.
Frey, a New Orleans native who spent 18 seasons as an assistant at Tulane, coached two of the Tech coaches.
“Brooke played AAU for me, and we won a national championship together when she made a jump shot to win the winners bracket final,” Frey said. “We still have fond memories of that. I coached and worked with Olivia at every level from rec ball to sitting beside her at Tulane, so we’ve been connected at the hip for close to 25 years.”
Afterward, NSU returns home to welcome NAIA power LSU-Shreveport to Prather Coliseum on Monday. It starts a string of three of the next four in Natchitoches.