KATY, Texas – Defending champion Northwestern State wasted little time in atoning for a 19-point loss to Nicholls, as the Lady Demons hit seven of their first eight shots to move past the Colonels 84-67 in a Women’s Basketball quarterfinal game, setting the stage for a matchup against second-seed Lamar Friday afternoon.
Freshman Tia Youngblood scored the first five points for the sixth-seed Lady Demons (17-14), which shot 58.8 percent from the field en route to their highest point total against a conference opponent this season and the program’s best production since an 86-58 victory over LSU-Alexandria on November 25.
“Their focus and concentration to start the game was unbelievable,” said Northwestern State co-coach Brooke Stoehr. “Offensively, we knocked down shots, but great shots. You don’t shoot 58 percent from the field by jacking up a bunch of 3s.
“We did shoot a lot of 3’s, but we got great shots, and that’s because we executed our offense.”
The Lady Demons never trailed the third-seeded Colonels (17-13) after Youngblood’s second basket gave Northwestern State a 4-3 lead with 18:43 in the first half. Nicholls overcame the torrid start and was able to tie the score at 27-all when Ekiya Gray scored on a layup at the 8:06 mark, yet were unable to take the edge.
First-team all-conference guard Janelle Perez led the way for Northwestern State with 24 points, including six during a second half spurt that saw the Lady Demons stretch their lead to 52-37 with 13:27 remaining. Keisha Lee added 15 points that also included a 3-pointer that gave Northwestern State their biggest lead of the afternoon at 64-45 with 7:25 left.
The offensive efficiency was stark contrast to the Lady Demons’ 59-40 loss at Nicholls on February 18.
“We didn’t run a lot of different stuff from what we did at Thibodeaux,” said Stoehr. “I think the difference was our concentration level.”
Nicholls pulled down 23 offensive rebounds, yet were only able to shoot just 28.9 percent from the field. Second-team all-conference guard Jenny Nash scored 18 points and added seven rebounds and four assists, yet was unable to get much of an offensive stride.
“We were just unable to get the ball rolling,” said Colonels and Southland co-coach of the year DoBee Plaiscance, who led her team to its third straight year of at least 17 wins. Plaiscance also is holding out the possibility the Colonels will receive a postseason tournament invitation after the team won a school-record 13 conference games.
To its credit, Nicholls refused to fold, as they got within 15 points several times before a basket and a pair of free throws from Beatrice Attura finally sealed the deal and gave Northwestern State a 79-60 lead with 2:29 remaining.
Chelsea Rogers connected on four of Northwestern State’s eight treys and finished with 16 points and eight rebounds, while Attura added 12 points, four rebounds and three assists off the bench for the Lady Demons.
Marina Lilly added 10 points for Nicholls.
Northwestern State lost its only regular season meeting against Lamar, falling 82-72 to the Lady Cardinals on January 17.
POSTGAME QUOTES
Northwestern State
Co-Head Coach Brooke Stoehr
Opening statement…
“You have to give [Nicholls head coach] DoBee [Plaisance], her staff and her players a lot of credit. They’ve had a tremendous season if you look at what they’ve done throughout the course of the regular season. That’s a very good basketball team that we just beat. I’m extremely proud of this team. Their focus and concentration to start the game was unbelievable. It started with freshman Tia Youngblood from her mindset of not wanting to be denied. That’s not something we’ve seen from her, but I’m glad we saw it today. I’m very proud of my players. Offensively, we were very balanced and we got great shots.”
On Northwestern State’s defense…
“We didn’t run a lot of different stuff than we did at their place. I think the difference was our concentration level. This team values the basketball very well.”
Senior Guard Chelsea Rogers
On getting out to a quick start…
“It’s tournament time and as anyone can tell we’re a tournament team. As coach said, Tia Youngblood got us off to a good start. If a freshman can do it, then we all can do it. That just started us off right there.”
Junior Guard Janelle Perez
On Northwestern State’s offense…
“We knew we had to come out and execute and we were able to get some really god looks. We hit some pretty good shots and were able to get easy shots. We all did our job. We stayed together. Our defensive effort lead to pushing in transition and getting some good looks. I’m proud of my teammates and their efforts.”
Nicholls
Head Coach DoBee Plaisance
Opening statement…
“Hats off to Northwestern State. They came out with a one-two punch. We were a little slow getting the ball rolling. I’m so proud of the women. We did fight back and make some strides towards the end. I’m really proud of the way we battled down the stretch. We could have folded, but we didn’t.”
On Nicholls’ shooting…
“[Not finishing around the basket] disrupted our flow and our execution. Offensively, it threw our focus a little off kilter because you don’t want to miss. These kids were playing hard. On the defensive end, we did get a little overzealous at times. We had too much coverage in some areas, and that made it hard to recover.”
Senior Guard Jenny Nash
On Northwestern State’s start…
“Northwestern State came out really strong and hot, but I don’t think it phased us that much. We just had to do what we could do and unfortunately, we didn’t do that and that stopped our momentum. It gave them a bigger push.”
Senior Center Shay Arnick
On rebounding…
“We were trying to correct our offense off of offensive rebounds. We figured that would help us get momentum and we couldn’t throw it in the ocean today. We tried and it wasn’t our night.”