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TOURNAMENT CENTRAL
KATY, Texas – Northwestern State opened defense of its Southland Conference Women’s Basketball Tournament championship in the same manner it captured the crown last March: methodically forcing opponents to submit.
The Lady Demons allowed just one field goal in a stretch of 7:02 in the second half en route to handing Central Arkansas a 63-49 victory at Merrell Center on Thursday afternoon, putting them in Friday’s second round against Nicholls.
“They continue to fight,” said Northwestern State coach Brooke Stoehr. “We’re not pretty. We’ve said that since day one: this team is not going to be pretty, but as long as the end result favors us, we’re okay with that.”
Trailing 40-37 following an Angel Williams basket with 8:37 remaining, the sixth-seeded Lady Demons (16-14) began its final clampdown on a Central Arkansas (17-14) team that struggled from the field all afternoon. From that point, Northwestern State limited just a Brianna Mullins field goal until Kelsey McClure scored with 1:35 remaining.
“We didn’t play our best basketball,” said Sugar Bears’ coach Sandra Rushing. “We looked confused at times. I felt like we were prepared, but evidently we didn’t execute the game plan.”
By that point, the Lady Demons had established a 55-43 lead behind the shooting of Keisha Lee and Presley Owens, who combined to score 11 of Northwestern State’s 18 points during the decisive stretch. Lee, who led all scorers with 19 points, capped off the run with the 100th 3-pointer of her career with 1:51 left that all but sealed the deal.
Lee’s landmark triple came as time ran down on the shot clock, with the junior guard caught between making either at least one more pass or shooting.
“The shot clock was just going down and I was like, ‘I either have to shoot or drive,’” said Lee. “I didn’t think I had time to drive, so I figured I had to shoot it with confidence.”
After shooting just 34.6 percent in the first half, the Lady Demons were more efficient after intermission, connecting on 52.2 percent of their shots. Northwestern State was able to get 43 of their points between scoring in the paint and at the free throw line, where they were 17 of 22 from the charity stripe.
While the offense came into the form, the game plan to contain second-team all-conference guard Maggie Proffitt also came into vision for the Lady Demons, who held the Sugar Bears’ leading scorer to just four points, including 1-for-12 from the field.
“We knew we had to do a tremendous job not allowing her to get easy layups,” said Stoehr. “Everything that she took was contested.”
Central Arkansas, which was eliminated in their first game for the fourth straight year, shot only 28.8 percent from the field. Mullins and Terai Sadler led the Sugar Bears with 10 points each. All-Southland first team guard Janelle Perez had 16 points, four rebounds and four assists for Northwestern State, while Owens added 10 points and six rebounds.
Northwestern State split their two regular season games with Nicholls, winning at home on January 21 and losing on the road on February 18.
POSTGAME QUOTES
Northwestern State
Head Coach Brooke Stoehr
Opening statement…
“Every time we play them, they do such a great job defensively and that’s a credit to Sandra [Rushing] and her staff and how hard she gets them to play. It’s really hard to come by point when you play against them and I thought we felt like we had to reverse the ball and attack them off the dribble. Getting to the line 22 times was big for us. Credit to Sandra and her staff and her team. We knew going in it would be a tough game and I’m very proud of these three sitting right here and the team in the locker room.”
On the team’s defensive effort…
“This group understands that in a game that’s going to be limited offensive possessions that we’ve got to be great on the defensive end. To be honest, we struggled on the defensive end at time this year. I thought we really had a good effort on the defensive end. Keisha [Lee] did a really great job setting the tone for us. Great team defense and when you get to postseason that’s what you have to have. You have to have a focused group that understands personal and forces the opponent’s second and third scorers.”
Junior guard Keisha Lee
On the Lady Demons’ offense…
“Coach always tells us to be patient even when things don’t go our way so we just needed to execute the offense and be patient. We try to execute what the coaches ask and do the best we can.”
Senior Forward Presley Owens
On shutting down Maggie Proffitt…
“I think we did a really good job. Keisha [Lee] was on her so she did good and if we’re able to stop Maggie it really helps our chances to come out with a win.”
Central Arkansas
Head Coach Sandra Rushing
Opening statement…
“Hats off to Northwestern State. I thought they played with a lot of heart and a lot of passion. They wanted this game. We didn’t play our best basketball and we looked confused at times. I’m not sure if its nerves but I’m disappointed in the loss, but I am proud of this team and what they’ve accomplished this year. We’ve come a long way to have a young team, I’m proud of them. Northwestern State did a tremendous job. They were very well prepared. I felt like we were prepared, but evidently we didn’t execute the game plan.”
On UCA’s offense…
“I thought we missed some easy shots and it’s been like that the last couple of ball games. We’re not finishing around the rim. We took a couple bad shots. It’s tournament time and if you’re not careful you’ll shoot yourself out of the game.”
Senior Forward Terai Sadler
On the pace of the game…
“I think we forced shots. We had bad shot selection. I think we went on a run as well with Angel Williams coming off the bench. I think she really sparked us and got us going, but we couldn’t keep it going.”
Sophomore Guard Brianna Mullins
On the game…
“Throughout the whole game I felt like we could have won and should have won. Like coach said, we didn’t knock down some of the easy shots. We didn’t play to our full potential.”