The Shorthorn - Women's basketball defeats Demons, evens conference record to 4-4

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Women's basketball defeats Demons, evens conference record to 4-4

Written by Travis Detherage, The Shorthorn staff

Monday, 08 February 2010 08:04 PM

Senior guard Kiarra Shofner played the entire game and scored 23 points as the Mavericks were able to survive a late comeback by Northwestern State to win 86-82 Saturday in Natchitoches, La.

Unlike the previous game against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi when the Mavs blew an 11-point lead with 6:19 remaining, the Mavericks held on to win.

The Mavericks (9-12, 4-4 Southland Conference) were up by 12 at halftime and came out and had their biggest lead of the game at 15 with 18:40 left.

The Demons were able to cut the lead to three with 55 seconds left by going on an 8-2 run, but were unable to complete the comeback.

The Mavericks have now won nine straight against the Demons and have won three straight road-games against Northwestern State.

Coming into this game, Northwestern State was first in the SLC in field goal percentage defense, but the Mavericks shot 45.9 percent from the floor. Northwestern State also came into this game first in 3-point field goal percentage, but the Mavericks stepped up defensively and held them to 28 percent from 3-point land.

The Mavericks were able to separate themselves from the Demons in the first half by going on a 16-5 run to extend their lead to 37-25 with 1:10 left in the first half.

Another reason why the Mavericks were able to get out to a big lead in the first half was the play of the defense, which held the Demons to 28.1 percent shooting. The Mavericks shot 47.1 percent from the floor in the first half.

Shofner was 6 of 9 from the field and 10 of 12 from the free-throw line to lead the Mavericks in scoring for the second time this season.

Junior guard Tamara Simmons had 15 points and said she tried to stay on the offensive.

“I just try to stay aggressive, keep attacking and not always rely on the three,” she said. “I just try to maintain aggressiveness and get easy jumpers that they gave me.”

Senior guard Meghan Nelson was able to fight off foul trouble and show why she is the third leading scorer in the SLC by scoring 21 points, 19 coming in the first half.

The Mavericks forced 14 Northwestern State turnovers.

Nelson said the offense is more effective when it gets fast-break points.

“It always starts with our defense,” she said. “We just try to play good defense and don’t let them get any easy shots. Force them to take a bad shot and get the rebound and get it out quick because we know we run.”

The Mavericks will try to win back-to-back games on Wednesday for the first time all year against McNeese State (6-15, 2-6 SLC).

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