NATCHITOCHES – The Southland Conference Tournament championship rings have been given out. The banner has been raised to the Prather Coliseum rafters.
 
Yes, March 2014 provided the Northwestern State women's basketball program with a lifetime of memories. At 6:30 p.m. Friday, however, the Lady Demons raise the curtain on a new season when they host LeTourneau at Prather Coliseum.
 
As the page turns, third-year co-head coach Brooke Stoehr could not be happier to start the next step at home.
 
"Anytime we can play at Prather, in front of our fans and our students, they provide a great home-court advantage for us," Stoehr said. "Our team has done very well at home. Some of that is just the confidence of playing in your own gym, sleeping in your own bed, and that's natural. I'm excited. If you can get off to a good start at home and build on that as we go, you figure out how to play and how to win. Then you go on the road and try to translate that into a road victory."
 
NSU returns four starters from its 21-13 team that made the program's first NCAA Tournament appearance in 10 years. Among them are the backcourt combo of Janelle Perez and Keisha Lee, each of whom has surpassed the 2,000-minute mark in their two-year careers.
 
Perez and Lee were second-team preseason All-Southland Conference picks. In their sophomore seasons, Lee (13.3 points per game) and Perez (10 ppg) were NSU's second- and third-leading scorers, respectively.
 
"I think guard play, especially when you get to the postseason, is extremely critical," Stoehr said. "If you can value the ball and retain possession and not give the other team extra opportunities by turning it over, leading to layups, you give yourself a good chance to stay in games. With those two, we definitely do that."
 
Senior guard Chelsea Rogers and senior forward Presley Owens join Lee and Perez in the quartet of returning starters.
 
In addition to the four returning starters, NSU returns four additional letterwinners from last season. Several have made strides in preseason workouts, giving the Stoehr and co-head coach Scott Stoehr additional offensive options.
 
"Amy Staha has shot the ball extremely well," Brooke Stoehr said. "She's executing our offense at a very good tempo."
 
Friday's matchup marks the start of a new era for LeTourneau as well. Leslie Reinecker coaches her first game at the helm of a Yellow Jackets team that returns two starters and 12 letterwinners from an 11-15 squad that went 9-13 in American Southwest Conference play.
 
It will also be the first chance for NSU fans to see a newcomer class that features four freshmen (Sami Thomas, Jackie Perez, Ndey Sonko and Tia Youngblood) and two junior-college transfers (TaSheena Moore and Meghan Cross).
 
With several new faces playing important roles, Brooke Stoehr said she realizes team chemistry will take time to develop.
 
"We can't expect to be where we were at the end of last year right now," Stoehr said. "We talked to our team about that (Tuesday) morning, especially our seniors. You're not a finished product. We don't expect you to be a finished product, but we do expect a great effort every single day. We've gotten that for the most part. We're just a point where we're ready to face a different opponent."