WACO, Texas – One thing you can count on from the Northwestern State women's basketball team – it will not be intimidated by playing No. 2 seed Baylor in the NCAA Tournament.
 
The Lady Demons face the two-time national champion Lady Bears at 1:30 p.m. Friday on Baylor's campus, as Northwestern State tastes back-to-back NCAA Tournament appearances for the first time in program history.
 
"It is something that we are used to," sophomore guard Beatrice Attura said of playing Power Five conference opponents. "We play teams from the Big 12 and the SEC during the pre(-conference) season, so we are used to it. We are excited to compete tomorrow."
 
The game will be televised on ESPN2 with Fran Harris delivering the play by play while Nell Fortner serves as the color analyst.

The game will be broadcast on the Demon Sports Network, flagshipped by 100.7 KZBL in Natchitoches and including Sports Talk 100.7 FM and SuperTalk 1340 AM KRMD in Shreveport, and KWLA 103.1 FM in Anacoco. Free audio is available at NSUDemons.com and SuperTalk1340.com. Tony Taglavore will deliver the play-by-play.

Playing at the Ferrell Center brought back plenty of memories for the 15^th-seeded Lady Demons (19-14), who visited Baylor in November 2013 for a non-conference game.
 
Co-head coach Brooke Stoehr turned to Attura, Chelsea Rogers and Janelle Perez, who were seated next to her on the dais inside the Baylor practice facility, reminding them about practicing there the night before playing the Lady Bears.
 
The chance to play in a familiar arena is welcomed by the Lady Demons.
 
"It's a good opportunity being back," senior guard Chelsea Rogers said.
 
Being back in the Big Dance should help calm any nerves that may affect the Lady Demons. A season ago, Northwestern State entered the NCAA Tournament as a No. 16 seed and stood toe-to-toe with top-seeded Tennessee, one of women's basketball traditional powerhouses.
 
Northwestern State had that game tied at 22 with 18:30 to play in the game after a Perez jumper.
 
In their second straight tournament appearance, NSU brings a fighter's mentality into the matchup with Baylor. The Lady Demons also will bring some momentum with them, as they became the first Southland Conference women's basketball team to win four games in as many days to win the Southland Conference Tournament championship.
 
"Last year was huge, because it was the first time our program had been in the tournament in 10 years," Stoehr said. "This year is even more special to see how this group has grown. We lost arguably our best athlete (TaSheena Moore) early in December to an ACL injury. We had to retool who we were and figure out our identity as a group and how we were going to play.
 
"They did a tremendous job. To win four games in four days says a lot about these young ladies – not only their toughness, but just their love and togetherness. They have the ability to execute in tough moments and figure out how to get a win."
 
The coaching matchup features a bit of a teacher-pupil matchup, as Stoehr played for Louisiana Tech when Baylor head coach Kim Mulkey, a Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame enshrinee, was an assistant on Leon Barmore's staff.
 
"It's an honor when you think about the fabric of college basketball, because she's all over it," Stoehr said. "She's won national championships as a player, assistant coach and head coach. When you are a young coach, you want to compete against the best, and it's against someone I have a lot of respect for. I'm honored to be in this environment and to compete against one of the best programs in the country."
 
Despite the caliber of opponent the Lady Demons will face, they plan to do the same thing they have done for 33 games this season.
 
"Going into this game, we're going to be ourselves still," Perez said. "We'll use a lot of drive and penetration, kickouts and 3s. We're not going to change anything. We're going to do what we have been doing and hopefully knock down some shots."
 
Even as a 15 seed, the Lady Demons have Baylor's attention.
 
"They are definitely a good team," Baylor's Nina Davis said. "I think we cannot pay attention to the seed. They are a team that is going to come play with a lot of fire and are excited to be here. We are going to have to match their intensity. We can't take anything for granted. Anyone can get upset at any time, so we just have to come in focused and ready to play."