Howard leads McNeese against Northwestern State after 20-point showing

Northwestern State Lady Demons (4-4, 1-0 Southland) at McNeese Cowgirls (7-3, 1-0 Southland)

Lake Charles, Louisiana; Monday, 7:30 p.m. EST

BOTTOM LINE: McNeese hosts Northwestern State after Dakota Howard scored 20 points in McNeese's 71-45 victory over the East Texas A&M Lions.

The Cowgirls have gone 3-0 at home. McNeese is the top team in the Southland at limiting opponent scoring, giving up 52.7 points while holding opponents to 39.0% shooting.

The Lady Demons have gone 1-0 against Southland opponents. Northwestern State scores 69.6 points while outscoring opponents by 7.1 points per game.

McNeese's average of 5.3 made 3-pointers per game this season is just 0.2 fewer made shots on average than the 5.5 per game Northwestern State allows. Northwestern State averages 7.9 made 3-pointers per game this season, 2.6 more made shots on average than the 5.3 per game McNeese allows.

The Cowgirls and Lady Demons square off Monday for the first time in Southland play this season.

TOP PERFORMERS: Arianna Patton is scoring 11.8 points per game with 1.8 rebounds and 1.5 assists for the Cowgirls. Howard is averaging 10.6 points and 5.5 rebounds while shooting 44.7%.

Vernell Atamah is shooting 46.0% and averaging 21.3 points for the Lady Demons. Nya Valentine is averaging 7.6 points.

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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.