HOUSTON – The HBU women's basketball team excelled on both ends of the floor Thursday night as they downed the Northwestern State Lady Demons 66-51.
 
The Huskies (9-8, 5-1 SLC) stretch their win streak to three games and have won six of their last eight contests. Tonight, four Huskies scored in double figures, led by Timia Jefferson with a game high 17. The Huskies shot 42 percent from the field, 39.3 percent from distance and 87 percent from the charity stripe. They contested the Lady Demons deep ball well, holding them to just 2-11 shooting from three.
 
Northwestern State (9-8, 2-4 SLC) dropped their third consecutive Southland Conference game. The Lady Demons did a good job on the boards, with three different players recording seven rebounds.
 
The Huskies came out slow offensively in the first quarter, shooting just 35.3 percent from the field, but big three pointers from Julija Vujakovic and Kennedy Wilson kept it close. With just two seconds left in the first quarter, and the Huskies down three, N'Denasija Collins had a big tip-in layup as time expired to cut the Lady Demons lead to just one.
 
Northwestern State started the second quarter on an 11-4 run, to extend their lead to eight. An Enya Maguire offensive rebound and put-back layup with 4:48 to play in the half, got the Huskies rolling and they wouldn't look back. They closed out the last four minutes on a 12-0 run, by forcing turnovers, getting into the paint, and attacking the Lady Demons 3-2 zone defense. The Husky defense forced eight misses and four turnovers over that stretch. Offensively in the second quarter, the Huskies knocked down seven of their 14 shots including 2-5 from distance. HBU took a 30-26 lead into halftime.
 
The Huskies brought their defense back out with them to start the second half. They opened the third quarter  on another 11-0 run, before Northwestern State finally got something to drop around the five minute mark, with the Huskies leading 41-28. The Huskies extended their lead to a game-high 21 over the next four minutes including a big three ball from Vujakovic and several coast-to-coast layups from Jefferson.
 
Several Lady Demon's attempts to make runs in the fourth quarter were squashed by the Husky offense that refused to quit until the final horn. HBU closed out their third consecutive Southland win by a score of 66-51.  
 
For the game, Jefferson led all scorers with 17 points while adding three steals. Nzoiwu had 14 points, eight rebounds, and two assists while Wilson also had 14 points and contributed three rebounds and three steals. Vujakovic scored 13 points on 3-5 shooting from deep, added two steals, and had a game-high two blocks. Abbey Sutherland added two points, five boards, four assists, a steal, and a block. The Husky defense was the story of the night, forcing 22 turnovers and scoring 20 points off of those turnovers.

After the game, head coach Donna Finnie said, "We had some really good stretches of defense tonight. Credit to Northwestern State, they play so hard, it was tough for us to get into any rhythm offensively. We have to do a better job on the glass both ends, and still put together longer spells of that defense you saw tonight."
 
This marks the Huskies third consecutive win against the Lady Demons, dating back to early 2021. The two teams will see each other again next week when they face off in Natchitoches, Louisiana.
 
The Huskies will look to complete the four game sweep of the home stand on Saturday afternoon when they host top ranked Southeastern at 2 p.m.