KATY, Texas – When the Northwestern State women's basketball team arrived at the Merrell Center on Tuesday, Aubrey Stoehr had a message for them.
 
"All right girls, play like you did last year," the 4-year-old daughter of co-head coaches Brooke and Scott Stoehr told the Lady Demons before they exited the bus.
 
In the same way they listen to their coaches, the defending champion Lady Demons listened to the younger Stoehr and completed a remarkable four games in four days run through the Southland Conference Tournament with a 58-50 victory against No. 8 seed Houston Baptist in Sunday's championship game. The win clinched the program's fourth NCAA Tournament berth in school history and marked the first time the Lady Demons earned back-to-back NCAA bids.
 
Northwestern State will learn where it will head for postseason play at 6 p.m. Monday when the field of 64 is revealed.
 
"I am incredibly proud of the fight in this group," Brooke Stoehr said. "We had a stretch in the second half where we executed and took an (11-) point lead in the second half at one time. Their execution and the ability to go back to the simple things we work on every day in practice was tremendous. I'm really proud and honored to be their coach."
 
The play of tournament Most Valuable Player Beatrice Attura falls under tremendous as well. Attura continued her scoring surge that started three weeks ago after she missed the Lady Demons' 59-40 loss at Nicholls on Feb. 18.
 
With her team-best 19-point performance Sunday, Attura has scored 130 points in her last eight games, an average of 16.3 points per game.
 
She delivered key buckets time and again Sunday. None was bigger than a jumper that led to a three-point play with 7:02 to play.
 
The Lady Demons (19-14) had endured a 5:10 stretch without a point when Attura made the jumper and added a free throw to re-establish a seven-point NSU lead.
 
"For me, it started when I didn't travel to Nicholls," Attura said. "I watched it online, and it did not look like us. It did not look like Northwestern State basketball. We were struggling at that point. Seeing that is really humbling for us. When they got back, I just wanted to do anything I could to help our team. I guess I found my role."
 
Prior to the scoreless stretch, the Lady Demons scored 17 of the first 23 points of the second half to build their largest lead of the game – 11 points – on an Attura layup with 12:22 to play.
 
"Our ability to execute on the offensive end – and we had four or five stops in a row – during that time allowed us to extend the lead," Brooke Stoehr said. "It wasn't that we were just scoring. We were rebounding and not allowing second-chance opportunities. I really felt like that gave us the separation we needed right there."
 
Houston Baptist (15-18) never went away, continuing its trend of hanging around late in games despite entering the tournament as the No. 8 seed. Erin McGarrachan paced the Huskies with 22 points, including a personal 7-0 run that cut the Lady Demons' lead to four points before Attura's three-point play. Anna Strickland added 11 points and 13 rebounds, as she and McGarrachan (10 rebounds) each posted double-doubles.
 
"Their players continued to fight," Brooke Stoehr said. "McGarrachan had a tremendous day. We couldn't guard her. She carved us up at the high post. We knew they would execute against the zone. They are very well-coached. They pass the ball very well. We knew they wouldn't settle for 3s and would try to get the ball to the heart of the zone and make us make mistakes."
 
HBU put together another surge, cutting the lead to six on a Rachel Arthur basket with 59.9 seconds left.
 
From there, first-team All-Southland Conference selection Janelle Perez played closer and sank eight free throws in the final minute to lock up the Lady Demons' second straight NCAA trip. It was fitting Perez closed the game from the line, as she broke into the NCAA's active career leaders in free-throw percentage during the SLC Tournament.
 
Perez entered the game with a career free-throw percentage of 80.7, which ranked her 27^th among active players.
 
"I just try to tune everything and do what I can for my team," said Perez, who finished with 12 points. "I just try to get the ball in my hands and let the time go off the clock. I've been in that situation. We all have. It just came naturally. When you're in that situation, you have to calm down and go back to everything you were taught and everything you've been through and do it like you do every day in practice."
 
Perez' play has been a constant for the Stoehrs since she walked on campus, and Attura's has been down the stretch.
 
Suddenly, so has winning Southland Conference Tournament championships and the ensuing NCAA Tournament berths. And while Sunday was twice as nice for the Lady Demons,
 
"I don't know if I can put that into words," Brooke Stoehr said. "I know how I felt sitting up here last year – just pure elation. I'm not stunned by what this group has done, just amazed. Their character and their resiliency has been just unbelievable."