Box Score NATCHITOCHES, LOUISIANA – The Northwestern State women's basketball team handed the University of the Incarnate Word a third straight loss after keeping the Cardinals top scorers quiet on Thursday night.  The Lady Demons picked up a 72-66 victory in Southland Conference action.

For the Lady Demons (11-9, 4-4) a 17-2 run midway through the first half gave the hosts a lead they would never relinquish.  The Cardinals (8-11, 2-5) pulled to within three points early in the second half on a jumper by Kosisio Mora (Grand Prairie/Arlington Bowie HS) with 16:13 remaining in the game.

The Demons would not let UIW get any closer and stretched the lead to 15 points with 5:22 remaining before the Cardinals attempted a massive comeback.  UIW hit five three-pointers in the final five minutes, but could not get any closer than five points as NSU did a good job of making their free throws down the stretch.

UIW shot well from the floor and shooting 45.8 percent from the field and 55.6 percent from three-point range, but the Lady Demons held the edge after keeping the Cardinals leading scorer, Rose Whitehead (Grapevine/Grapevine HS) to scoring just six points in the contest.

Freshman Natalie Hessong (Corpus Christi/King HS) came off the bench to close the gap to just three with 13 minutes left to go in the second half and posted an impressive total of 23 points from seven three-pointers.   She was 7-of-9 from three-point range in the game and added a pair of free throws.  Ifunanya Mora (Grand Prairie/Arlington Bowie HS) also added 10 points, 13 rebounds, six assists and two steals.
           
The Lady Demons shot 41.4 percent from the field and were 8-of-17 from three-point range.  They had five players score in double figures led by 14 points from Keisha Lee.  Janelle Perez added 11 points and six assists while Kourtney Pennywell led the team with 10 rebounds.

The Cardinals are back in action on Saturday as they head to Nacogdoches, TX to play the Lady Jacks of Stephen F. Austin at 4 p.m.
####
pr14046smm