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NATCHITOCHES, La. – A 16-0 run in the second quarter was enough to hold the HBU women's basketball at bay as the Huskies fell 75-54 to Northwestern State in a Southland Conference matchup on Thursday evening at Prather Coliseum.
 
HBU (5-16, 3-8 SLC) got out to an early 7-2 lead after a steal and fast break layup by Lisa Zderadicka less than three minutes and thirty seconds into the game. The Huskies led 9-4 before back-to-back buckets from Cheyenne Brown and Tia Youngblood cut it to a 9-8 game with 3:57 left in the first period. Northwestern State (11-11, 5-6 SLC) took its first lead of the game on a jumper from Brown at the 2:17 mark. Zderadicka got to the foul line with 20 seconds left in the period, hitting both to give the Huskies an 11-10 lead heading into the second frame.
 
Down 15-13 in the second quarter, a Britta Daub three gave HBU an 18-17 lead but over the ensuing five minutes and 10 seconds, NSU went on a 16-point run for a 33-18 lead with 2:18 left in the half. Lauren Calver broke the Huskies scoreless streak with a layup at the 1:48 mark but Beatrice Attura responded with a three on the Demons' next trip down the court. Attura scored 10 in the second period, helping Northwestern State to a 38-23 halftime advantage.
 
The Huskies opened scoring the in the second half with a jumper in the paint from Taylor Kollmorgen, but Northwestern State responded, pushing its lead to 46-28 with 5:38 on the clock, matching the Demons' largest lead of the game to that point. Sophomore Amanda Johnson answered with a three for the Huskies to bring the team's deficit back to 15. The NSU lead rose as high as 21 in the quarter but HBU closed with a Johnson layup and a pair of Zderadicka free throws, resulting in a 57-40 ballgame heading into the final quarter.
 
In the final quarter, the Huskies got an opening layup from Shannon Jones to bring the score to 57-42 but the Demons used an 11-3 run to gain their largest lead of the game, 68-45 with just over five minutes remaining. HBU would get no closer than 20 the rest of the way.
 
Zderadicka led HBU in scoring, finishing the evening with 18 points on 5-of-12 shooting, including 2-of-5 from three. The sophomore also finished with three steals, three assists and three rebounds. Jones added seven points and a team-leading seven rebounds while Johnson put up seven points off the bench. Heidi Byrd had seven points and five boards.
 
The Demons were led by Cheyenne Brown who scored a game-high 22 on 9-of-13 shooting and came a rebound shy of a double-double, with nine. Attura filled up the stat sheet with 16 points, eight assists and seven rebounds while Youngblood had 12 and Libba Gilliam scored 11.
 
Northwestern State held a 42-22 advantage on the boards and scored 44 of their 75 points inside the paint. The Demons closed the game shooting 52.7 percent (29-of-55) while the Huskies finished at 34 percent (18-of-53).
 
The Huskies travel to Huntsville, Texas to close out their current two-game road trip as they finish their season series with the Bearkats of Sam Houston State on Saturday, Feb. 11 at 4:00 p.m.