NATCHITOCHES - Sherrion Thomas scored 13 points and pulled down 11 rebounds and Jessica McPhail added 13 points as Northwestern State got its engines going in the second half en route to a 73-58 win over LSU-Shreveport in women's basketball action Tuesday night.

Leading just 34-33 at the half, and that coming by way of a last second three-point bucket by Anna Cate Williams, NSU (2-2) used a 22-7 run in the first 10 minutes of the second half to break open the game.

"We just didn't play for 40 minutes," said sixth-year head coach Jennifer Graf.  "Obviously, there were many things you can point to in the first half that we didn't do well.  But we came out in the second half and played a lot better.  And in return, it was fun and more enjoyable."

Brooke Shepherd scored 10 points to round out the three NSU double figure scorers.

"We need to put together 40 minutes of play," said Graf.  "If we do that, we can be a pretty good basketball team."

NSU suffered through a dismal first half despite hitting 48 percent of its shots including 4 of 7 from long range.  But LSUS (3-1) kept things close by forcing 12 turnovers and knocking down 11 of 25 from the field.

LSUS scored the game's first two points before NSU scored the next four on back-to-back layups by McPhail and Thomas.

The Lady Demons opened up a six point lead at 14-8 on a layup by Britany Kinlaw with 11:24 to play in the half but the Lady Pilots answered with a 7-0 after a 3-pointer by Renalda Stafford, two free throws from Valeria Huizar and a jumper from Callie Davis.

The lead would change hands six more times in the final 10 minutes of the half before Williams' trey at the buzzer put the Lady Demons up for good.

Shepherd got things started in the second half with a three-pointer to put NSU up 37-33 with 18:55 to play then a trey by Williams with 15:09 to play gave the Lady Demons a 44-38 lead and started a 15-2 run that would help put the game out of reach.

Redshirt freshman Meredith Graf got into the action and knocked down back-to-back 3-pointers to make it 65-48 with 6:25 to play, then sank her third trey of the game at the 5:05 mark to make it 70-50.  It was the 13th and final three-pointer of the night for the Lady Demons, coming one short of the single game record of 14.

Huizar led the Lady Pilots with 12 points while Tish Flowers added 10.

NSU shot 44 percent for the game, knocking down 25 of 57 shots from the floor including 13 of 23 from 3-point range.  NSU also outrebounded LSUS by a 46-35 margin and scored 22 points off of the Lady Pilots' 17 turnovers.

LSUS connected on 33 percent from the field (20 for 60) and was held to 25 percent (4 for 16) from long range.

The Lady Demons return to action a 4 p.m. on Friday when they open play against North Carolina State in the first round of the Vanderbilt Thanksgiving Classic.

Newspaper Box Score
LSU-Shreveport vs Northwestern State
11/24/09 5:45 at Natchitoches, La. (Prather Coliseum)
At Natchitoches, La. (Prather Coliseum)
NORTHWESTERN STATE 73, LSU-SHREVEPORT 58
LSU-SHREVEPORT (3-1)
Huizar, Valeria 3-12 5-5 12; Flowers, Tish 3-11 4-6 10; Stafford, Renalda
4-6 0-0 9; Carlson, Rachel 2-2 1-1 6; Davis, Callie 2-3 2-4 6; Cotton,
Sharday 2-8 2-2 6; Warren, Tynekqua 2-10 0-0 5; Edwards, TiKandis 1-3 0-0 2;
Hoffman, Sylvia 1-3 0-2 2; Sepulvado, Christina 0-2 0-0 0; Morgan, Taylor
0-0 0-0 0. Totals 20-60 14-20 58.
NORTHWESTERN STATE (2-2)
Thomas, Sherrion 5-8 3-3 13; McPhail, Jessica 5-9 0-0 13; Shepherd, Brooke
3-7 2-3 10; Graf, Meredith 3-4 0-0 9; Houston, Brittiany 3-7 0-0 9; Kinlaw,
Britany 4-6 0-1 8; Williams, Anna Cate 2-6 0-0 6; Armstead, Trudy 0-5 4-7 4;
Greene, Lyndzee 0-5 1-4 1; Upchurch, Jasmine 0-0 0-0 0; Jennie, Laneisha 0-0
0-0 0. Totals 25-57 10-18 73.
LSU-Shreveport................   33   25  -   58
Northwestern State............   34   39  -   73
3-point goals--LSU-Shreveport 4-16 (Stafford, Renalda 1-1; Warren, Tynekqua
1-4; Huizar, Valeria 1-6; Carlson, Rachel 1-1; Sepulvado, Christina 0-1;
Flowers, Tish 0-3), Northwestern State 13-23 (Houston, Brittiany 3-5; Graf,
Meredith 3-4; McPhail, Jessica 3-3; Williams, Anna Cate 2-4; Shepherd,
Brooke 2-5; Greene, Lyndzee 0-2). Fouled out--LSU-Shreveport-None,
Northwestern State-Kinlaw, Britany. Rebounds--LSU-Shreveport 35 (Davis,
Callie 10), Northwestern State 46 (Thomas, Sherrion 11).
Assists--LSU-Shreveport 11 (Huizar, Valeria 5), Northwestern State 21
(Greene, Lyndzee 6). Total fouls--LSU-Shreveport 15, Northwestern State 15.
Technical fouls--LSU-Shreveport-None, Northwestern State-None. A-914