JOURNAL SPORTS
ABILENE, Texas — For the first time since the 2015-16 season, postseason competition is happening for the Northwestern State women’s basketball team.
The Demons (16-15) visit Abilene Christian for a battle with the Wildcats this evening in the first round of the Women’s National Invitation Tournament. Tipoff is at 6 p.m. and the contest can be viewed on ESPN+.
“It’s a little surreal,” NSU coach Anna Nimz said. “When you’re growing up and you’re a hooper and love basketball, you always aspire to do this as a player to play in the postseason and as a coach, this is your goal your entire career. When we got that call that we’d been selected, it was a little surreal. To get to keep playing is such a blessing.”
ACU (20-12) is making its first postseason appearance since 2021 in a season that has been its best since 2019, when the schools were Southland Conference rivals. In those eight seasons, ACU held a 6-2 series lead including a 4-0 mark in Abilene. The Wildcats were fourth in the Western Athletic Conference this season.
“(ACU) is a very successful team in the WAC,” Nimz said. “(ACU head) coach (Julie) Goodenough does an incredible job with her program. They are incredibly disciplined and tremendous 3-point shooters and 50-50 kids.
“There are a few teams in our conference they play similarly to in the realm of shooting and capability from the 3-point line and they run a lot of action that we’ve seen. We just have to come out and compete.”
This is the fifth trip all-time to the WNIT for Northwestern and first since 1999, a 78-60 loss at eventual tourney champion Arkansas to cap a 22-7 season.
However, the Demons have had plenty of success in the tournament before.
Northwestern beat Duke to reach the 1986 WNIT championship game in what used to be an eight-team field and went 2-1 in the 1995 edition, including a win over Marquette.
This appearance culminates a major turnaround for NSU, with its first winning record since that 2015-16 campaign. Nimz has led the team from one win in her first season to 16 wins and counting this season.
Seniors Sharna Ayres and Jasmin Dixon joined Nimz following her first season and have been instrumental in the Demons’ rise. Both players rank in the top five in program history in major categories. Ayres is fourth in program history in 3-pointers made (202), while Dixon (147) is fifth in school history for career blocks.
“I was pretty shocked when I got the call that we were going to the postseason,” Ayres said. “I was ready to hang up the shoes, but when I got that call, it felt like a second chance for us. We didn’t end it the way we wanted to, so I feel like this was the best option for us.”
Northwestern owns the Southland’s top rebounds per game rate at 41.3, 16th in the nation. Its rebound margin is +5.2, ranking second in the league.
While shooting just 30 percent from long range, the Demons have set the program record for 3-pointers in a season with 215. Senior point guard Mya Blake is scoring a conference-best 18.2 points per game while shooting 42 percent overall and 36 percent from deep. Blake’s 4.0 assists per game are second-most in the Southland.
Freshman Vernell Atamah averages 14 points while bringing down a team-best 6.9 boards per game. Atamah’s scoring and rebounding each rank seventh in the league, and her 77.9 percent free throw clip is fifth.
Blake was the Southland Newcomer of the Year and a first-team All-SLC pick. Atamah was the conference Freshman of the Year.
Ayres scores 10.8 points per game and has combined with Blake to hit 135 three-pointers this season. On the glass, Dixon averages 5.6 rebounds alongside 1.5 blocks per game, third in the Southland.
The long ball will be a major deciding factor in the game, as both teams want to put it up from deep. ACU has made 249 3-pointers and attempted 813. Five Wildcats players have put up at least 100 3-point attempts.
The winner of tonight’s contest goes to Central Arkansas Monday at 6:30 in the second round.
Louisiana Tech received a first-round bye and will meet the winner of tonight’s Texas Southern-Saint Mary’s opening round game, with the site and date determined by that game’s outcome.