Lady Demons roll past LSU-S as freshman Courtney Shead sparkles
December 15, 2005
NATCHITOCHES — Freshman Courtney Shead scored her first collegiate basket Wednesday night for Northwestern State, then erupted for 16 points and 18 rebounds in 18 minutes off the bench to highlight a 91-57 blowout win for the Lady Demons over visiting LSU-Shreveport.
Shead is one of seven freshmen for Northwestern (6-3), one of the youngest NCAA Division I teams in the country. The 6-foot-3 center from Moore Station, Texas, hadn’t scored and had only 7 rebounds in seven games entering the contest, but her 18 rebounds was the most in Prather Coliseum since Lady Demon great Kia Converse had 20 in a Jan. 23, 1999 win over Louisiana-Monroe.
Her scoring total led five double-digit outputs for NSU, which recorded its 299th all-time women’s basketball win in Prather Coliseum. The Lady Demons, whose 299-73 (.804) homecourt record ranks them 14th all-time nationally, go for No. 300 next Tuesday night against Eastern Washington.
Northwestern, which opened a 23-9 lead 10 minutes into the game, got 14 points and 8 rebounds by Tena Matthews, 13 points and 5 assists from Chassidy Jones, 12 points on four 3-pointers from Sheronda Bell and 10 points and 6 assists by Shonte Kennedy.
Shead missed only one of her eight shots while grabbing 9 offensive rebounds and blocking 3 shots.
“This was totally out of the blue. We knew Courtney had it in her, but there weren’t any signs in practice or in our previous games that she was about to play the way she did tonight,” said second-year head coach Jennifer Graf. “That’s why playing these games is important, because they allow our younger players the chance to get a good amount of playing experience.
“Overall, we did our best job this season on our defensive rotations. We’ll do well when we defend well,” she said. “Although we were slow coming out of the blocks, we got some steals and after we took control of the game, we maintained it. We have to start games better than we’ve been doing. “
The Lady Pilots (6-3), ranked 30th in NAIA Division I, scored the game’s first six points before the Lady Demons made four straight steals and scored as NSU ran off 14 unanswered points and moved on top to stay.
Northwestern, which ranks fourth nationally in steals, had 16, 12 in the first half. The Lady Demons led 44-23 at halftime and never allowed the Lady Pilots closer afterward while 11 Northwestern players scored and 13 grabbed a rebound and played at least three minutes. None of NSU’s starters played more than 23 minutes.
Renalda Stafford led LSU-S with 16 points, while Moche Roque added 13 and Jessica Kelly had 11. The Lady Pilots hit only 33 percent of their shots and were outrebounded 63-30.
(Story courtesy of NSU sports information)
