NATCHITOCHES, LA – Down by 14 points heading into the fourth quarter, the University of the Incarnate Word women's basketball team rallied back to defeat Northwestern State University (NSU) 52-45 on Thursday evening at Prather Coliseum.

""That was truly a special win for our program, and we are extremely proud of our team for staying together when things weren't going well for us," said head coach Jeff Dow. "To be down 14 going into the fourth quarter, and then go on a 19-0 run for almost 9 minutes of the fourth certainly speaks to the toughness and resolve of our players. Clearly, we were scuffling offensively in the second and third quarters, but we did enough defensively to allow ourselves to hang around. You don't expect to hold someone to a 24 percent field goal percentage on their home court, let alone 28, 20 and 7 percent in the last three quarters. We've been stressing the need to be better on the boards on both ends of the floor so it was really encouraging to end up with a plus 14 rebounding margin for the game and outscore Northwestern State 9-0 in second-chance points in the fourth quarter. Destiny Terrell and Starr Omozee came up with two huge offensive rebounds off of missed free throws in the last 23 seconds of the game that were big in allowing us to eat more time off the clock and extend our lead. And obviously, Jaaucklyn Moore's 15 points in the fourth quarter were critical especially with the struggles she was having in the first three quarters."
 
With her third 20-point performance this season, Jaaucklyn Moore led the Cardinal offense. Destiny Terrel contributed 11 points, nine rebounds, two assists and two steals.
 
The Cardinals started off rocky against the Lady Demons before going on a 6-0 scoring run to cut the lead to one at the end of the first quarter. NSU came out of the quarter break with a fast-paced offense UIW could not match. The Lady Demons went on to keep the 30-18 advantage heading into halftime.
 
UIW inched back in the third quarter, chipping away at the Lady Demon lead. The Cardinals were able to cut the advantage to 40-26 after a strong presence from Terrel and Arielle Adams. UIW was down by 14 points heading into the final 10 minutes, but the team refused to give up. Starr Omozee found Moore for the back-door layup to bring the Cardinals within one point. Moore continued to press, using two fast-break layups to give UIW its first lead of the game (45-40).  
 
The defense continued to stop the Lady Demons, holding them to five points throughout the fourth quarter. Omozee drained two clutch free throws to extend the Cardinal lead to five with 19 seconds left. The Cardinals forced a Lady Demon turnover and Moore accelerated down the court to add two more to the board as time expired. The Cardinals secured the comeback victory, 52-45.
 
UP NEXT
The Cardinals face the Lions of Southeastern Louisiana University on Saturday, Jan. 29. Tip-off is scheduled for 1 p.m. CT in Hammond, Louisiana.
 
FOLLOW ALONG
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