NATCHITOCHES, La. – The Sam Houston State women got down early and never could recover in their Southland Conference opener at Northwestern State.

The Demons scored 30 of the game's first 42 points on their way to a 78-59 win over the Bearkats.

“They just came out shooting on fire, and there wasn't much of anything we could do about it,” said head coach Brenda Nichols. “We certainly didn't expect them to come out and shoot like that.”

Northwestern State shot 64 percent in the first half from the floor, including an 8-for-10 clip from 3-point range.

The Demons built their lead to 26 points in the second half, before the Kats started to chip away at the lead. But the deficit was too much, and the Kats never could get back into the game.

“We just got down by so much, I think it took a lot out of the girls,” Nichols said. “We made a little run at them but couldn't make up the gap.”

Jasmine Johnson led the Bearkats in scoring with 13 points. Jazmin Wiley scored 12 and Angela Beadle added 11. Beadle finished the night with a double-double also pulling down 10 rebounds.

The Kats will shift their attention to SFA on Saturday. The game is set to start at 4 p.m.