NSU ties school record with 14 3’s in win

NATCHITOCHES – There’s an old American idiom that reads “two’s company, three’s a crowd.”

That was hardly the argument on Wednesday night in Prather Coliseum as Northwestern State, behind a school record-tying 14 three-point goals and 74 percent shooting from long range, blasted Grambling 93-62 in women’s basketball action.

A season-high six Lady Demon players scored in double-figures as NSU (6-4) basked in the glory of its largest margin of victory (31 points) since a 101-39 shellacking of Southern-New Orleans on Dec. 4, 2007.

“That make the game a lot of fun to coach when you’re knocking your shots down like that,” said Lady Demon head coach Jennifer Graf as the program is one win shy of its 650th all-time win. “The girls have worked extremely hard on their shots and their confidence. We told them that every time you put up a shot, act like it’s going in every time. That has been building their confidence.”

Redshirt freshman and Natchitoches native Meredith Graf sank her fourth 3-point basket of the game as time expired to give the Lady Demons the record-tying mark. Graf finished the night with 16 points on 4 of 5 shooting (4-for-4 from long range) with a game-high six steals.

“Really, what can you say about Meredith Graf,” said Coach Graf – no relation. “She practices and plays so hard. She’s a very confident player and knows what she has to do to get better as a player.”

Brooke Shepherd led all scorers with 19 points on 4 of 5 shooting with all five attempts coming from behind the three-point arch. Jessica McPhail and Britany Kinlaw added 13 points each while Lyndzee Greene, who was 3 for 5 from 3-point range, knocked in 12 points and Brittiany Houston 11.

For the game, the Lady Demons connected on 51 percent from the floor after hitting 30 of 59. Grambling (3-5) was held to just 32 percent shooting and only 3 of 13 for 23 percent from long range.

The game was a back-and-forth affair for the first five minutes with the lead changing hands six times until NSU took control for good after a Greene jumper to give the Lady Demons a 7-6 lead with 14:54 to play in the half.

That jumper sparked an 8-0 run for NSU as it went up 13-6 after Greene sank a 3-pointer at the 12:16 mark.

Grambling climbed back to within a 13-12 deficit after Ashley Cooper hit three straight free throws, but the Lady Demons answered with back-to-back-to-back 3-point buckets from Greene, Shepherd, and Graf to run the lead up to 25-14 NSU at the 8:33 mark.

The Lady Demons outscored the Lady Tigers 10-0 over the final 3:23 of the half to go into the break with a 47-23 lead.

The second half was much of the same and the Lady Demons took their largest lead of the night after a Trudy Armstead layup to make it 56-29 with 15:25 to play. Grambling then managed an 8-0 run of its own to cut the margin to 57-38 with 12:50 to play but Shepherd snapped the streak with a three-pointer but put the lead back into the 20-point range.

Freshman forward Laneisha Jennie got into the action with a layup at 9:03 to make it 74-47 and Kinlaw hit a layup with 6:12 to play to give NSU its first 30-point lead at 78-48.

NSU capped its largest lead at 34 points after Armstead hit a layup with 3:22 to play to make it 85-51 and after Grambling cut the deficit back under 30, Graf sank the 14th trey of the evening as the buzzer sounded.

Rachele Dobbins led the Lady Tigers with 15 points while Secrett Anderson added 13.

Both teams pulled down 39 rebounds with NSU’s Greene leading the way with a career-high nine boards.

NSU also hit 19 of its 22 shots from the free throw line while Grambling made good on just 17 of 26.

The Lady Demons will be back in action on Sunday when they visit Memphis for a 2 p.m. contest.