NATCHITOCHES – Northwestern State recaptured a measure of control over its Southland Conference tournament destiny with a two-match winning streak that's vaulted the Lady Demons back into postseason contention.

NSU (5-7-3, 2-3-2 SLC) aims to continue that streak when it hosts reigning SLC tournament champion Houston Baptist (7-4-1, 5-2 SLC) on Sunday at 1 p.m. at the Lady Demon Soccer Complex.

The Lady Demons now sit in eighth place in the 12-team league, one point shy of the conference tournament. Six teams make the conference tournament, and NSU needs to advance to the No. 7 spot because No. 2 Abilene Christian is ineligible for the postseason. Including Sunday's match, four regular-season matches remain.

"Houston Baptist is always a battle," said NSU coach George Van Linder, whose squad tied the Huskies in 2014. "We looked back at that tie and wish we had another chance.

"(Friday's win) was huge, and we know that we still have a small margin for error. It was great to see this team respond under that kind of pressure. We have to control our own destiny, and we still have a chance to do that."

NSU has relatively succeeded to date against the upper half of the league, posting a 1-1-1 mark against the current top five teams in the standings. NSU started its two-match winning streak with a 2-1, double-overtime win against fifth-place Sam Houston State after starting conference play with a tie at No. 1 Stephen F. Austin.

The Lady Demons' other SLC win came Friday in a 4-0 rout of Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, a team that held the final postseason spot before the loss.

After struggling to find the back of the net despite ample scoring chances, NSU has scored six goals in its last two wins. Through their first five conference matches, the Lady Demons managed just three goals en route to a 0-3-2 start.

Senior Cassandra Briscoe had a career-high five points (two goals, one assist) Friday with sophomore Esdeina Gonzalez chipping in with one goal and one assist.

"We've been finishing goals all week in practice, and it was great to show that (Friday)," Briscoe said. "We want to keep working to finish those goals."

Freshmen scored 18 of NSU's first 23 goals this season, but the upper classmen have rounded into form in the heart of the SLC schedule.

Non-freshmen scored the last six goals, including three by Briscoe and two by Gonzalez.

Four players are tied for the NSU scoring lead with four goals each – Briscoe, Gonzalez, freshman Brittany Caserma and freshman Kayleigh Phillips.

The defense has held its own as well, allowing one goal total in the last three matches and averaging 1.33 goals allowed per game (tied for fourth in SLC).

Sophomore goalkeeper Alex Latham started the last three matches after senior Brooke Bourbonais suffered an injury. Latham is 2-0-1 in those contests with two shutouts, lowering her goals against average to 1.07 (fourth in the SLC).

Houston Baptist counters with scoring stud Sabriah Spencer, whose eight goals rank third in the league. The Huskies scored 17 goals overall (1.42 per game) and allowed 15 (1.25 per game).

The Huskies won three of their last four matches, including a 2-1 overtime win at Central Arkansas on Friday.