Box Score NATCHITOCHES – When Amy Staha's short jumper bounced around and fell through the rim giving Northwestern State a  late 12-point lead against Louisiana Tech, Northwestern State co-head coach Brooke Stoehr pumped her fist.
 
Two minutes and 49 seconds later, Stoehr was simply beaming.
 
Behind a second consecutive career-high-scoring night from Staha, who tallied 19 points, the Lady Demons downed the Lady Techsters, 69-57, in Louisiana Tech's first visit to Prather Coliseum in 31 years.
 
"I had a great four years at Louisiana Tech, but this is about our players," said Stoehr, who as Brooke Lassiter left Louisiana Tech as the NCAA's all-time free throw percentage leader (91.5). "It's Game 2 of the season, and we're not going to look at this any differently than we looked at LeTourneau last Friday. It's the next game on the schedule, you continue to get better and you prepare your team for February and March."
 
While Staha, Keisha Lee (14 points) and Chelsea Rogers (10) carried the offense, NSU (2-0) kept its defense tightened down all night.
 
Northwestern State limited Louisiana Tech to 26.5-percent shooting in the first half and 32.9 percent for the game. Despite being outrebounded 48-30, NSU was able to survive by forcing 20 turnovers.
 
NSU also thrived whenever the Lady Techsters (1-1) threatened to make a run. After holding a double-digit lead for the latter 10 minutes of the first half, NSU saw Louisiana Tech cut the lead to seven on a JaQuan Jackson 3-pointer with 1:16 left in the half.
 
Sixteen seconds later, Staha drained her third 3 of the first half, re-establishing NSU's 10-point advantage.
 
A similar scenario played out in the second half, as Tech again sliced the lead to seven only to see NSU score the next eight points on a pair of TaSheena Moore jumpers, two free throws from Lee and a jumper from Presley Owens.
 
"I saw toughness," Stoehr said. "I think some of that is some of the experience – especially the backcourt – had last year in our tournament run; just the growth and maturity from our backcourt. We had some miscues there late that I'd like to have back, but I thought you saw a more mature team than we saw in our first two years."
 
After being brought along slowly last season while recovering from a knee injury suffered during her senior year of high school, Staha has shown to be fully healthy and has delivered 32 points in the first two games of her sophomore season.
 
Staha needed just seven field-goal attempts to reach her 19 points, knocking down five shots. She connected on all three of her first-half 3-point attempts and connected on both her 2-point field goals. In the first two games of 2014-15, Staha is 6-for-6 inside the 3-point arc.
 
"It's just great to be back out on the court, and with this team, it's really fun," Staha said. "We're just approaching every game with the same mentality – come out, work hard and out-tough the other team."
 
Staha's performance has mirrored that of the Lady Demons' offense. In the first half of each of its first two games, NSU has shot better than 50 percent from the field.
 
"We've been getting up a lot of shots each and every day, just so we can have great shooting days," said Lee, who has scored in double figures in both games this season.
 
Tiara Davenport paced Louisiana Tech with 15 points, while Jackson added 12. Kelia Shelton, who led Louisiana Tech with 18 points in its victory against Stephen F. Austin on Saturday, was held to just two points on 1-for-10 shooting.
 
Northwestern State returns to action at Arkansas at 2 p.m. Sunday. It is the first road game of the season for the Lady Demons, who open the season with three of their first four games at home.