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NATCHITOCHES, La. - Prairie View A&M took total control from the start of its 63-31 win over Northwestern State, and it didn't let its foot off of the gas pedal. Not only did the Lady Panthers make history by defeating Northwestern State for the first time in school history, but they cleansed their palettes of last season's loss in the Baby Dome by pummeling NSU on its home court Tuesday night in Natchitoches, La.
“The girls came out with a lot of defensive intensity,” Prairie View A&M coach Toyelle Wilson said. “I told them it would be big to set the tempo with our defense and that would create our offense. We held them to 20 percent shooting for the game and to three baskets in the second half, and they had 22 turnovers. We had 24 points off of their turnovers.”
The Lady Panthers turned in their best defensive performance of the season, forcing NSU into 22 turnovers off of 13 steals. The Lady Demons only made nine field goals in the entire game, shooting 20 percent from the field and 15.4 percent from three-point range. Prairie View A&M held NSU to 12 percent shooting in the second half.
“I think the girls are buying into our defense and buying into the concepts of defense that we want to play,” Wilson said. “But I think one thing you can't overlook is our bench production. JaQuandria Williams had 12 points and five rebounds, but she did so much more than the stats show.”
Prairie View A&M went into the first half with a 31-19 lead and picked up in the second half where it left off, embarking on a 9-3 run that was capped off by Larissa Scott finish in the paint with 15:46 left to take a 38-22 lead. Prairie View A&M continued to pile it on from there. JaQuandria Williams drained a three with 10:30 left in the game to give Prairie View A&M the 47-28 lead. Latia Williams then hit a put-back layup with 9:03 left, and the Panthers jumped out to a 21-point, 49-28 lead. Latia Williams finished with 10 points, seven rebounds and six assists.
Prairie View A&M bunkered down on defense, holding Northwestern State to 30 percent shooting from the field, including 14.3 percent from three-point territory, in the first half. The Lady Panthers used that defensive effort and a deadly midrange game by Kiara Etienne to take a 31-19 lead into the half.
Etienne scored 13 first-half points, using an array of jumpers and floaters to keep Northwestern State off-balanced. Etienne scored nine points in the final 5:15 of the first half and finished with a game-high 22 points. Redshirt freshman Gabrielle Scott complemented Etienne's game with seven first-half points. Scott capitalized off her first start of her Prairie View A&M career as she also played an integral role defensively.
Sophomore point guard Jeanette Jackson contributed a season-high seven assists on a night that Prairie View A&M dished out 19 assists as a team. With her 10 points, Latia Williams moved six points away from the 1000-point plateau.
The Lady Panthers started the game off on a 15-0 run, Gabrielle Scott, getting her first start of the season, hit a jumper to give PV the 6-0 lead then Etienne followed with a floater and a jumper back-to-back to give PV the 10-0 lead with 14:10 left in the first half. In her first action of the season, JaQuandria Williams came off of the bench and drained a three with 13:35 left in the half to give PV the 13-0 lead.
Northwestern State didn't hit its first shot until seven minutes into the game when Keisha Lee drained a three to cut her team's deficit to 15-3. The Lady Demons were held to 0-for-7 shooting from the field until that point.
The Lady Panthers don't hit the court again until Dec. 16. They will face Kansas at 2 p.m. that Sunday in Lawrence in a game the Lady Panthers will definitely enter with a winning mentality.
"'I'm just so proud and happy for this special group of ladies," Wilson said. "They are determined, committed, and want to win every game."
