NATCHITOCHES – Northwestern State posted its second consecutive Southland Conference shutout Friday as the Lady Demons scored a huge win 1-0 against Southeastern.

NSU (9-8, 3-6 SLC) won two consecutive conference games for the first time since 2016 and posted two straight league shutouts in wins for the first time since 2014.

The Lady Demons bolstered its SLC Tournament hopes with the win, jumping into eighth place before Sunday's home finale against Nicholls at 1 p.m.

"A lot of hard work and playing together," said NSU co-head coach Jess Jobe of the defensive effort. "Everything they did, they did together.

"They read cues and stayed on same page -- stepped and dropped together. This was a unifying performance."

Redshirt sophomore goalkeeper Kayla Bomben posted her fifth shutout of the season and first consecutive shutouts in conference play.

Bomben made four saves, two in each half, as the NSU defense limited Southeastern (6-5-4, 3-3-3 SLC) to eight shots and four on goal.

"We just trusted each other," Bomben said. "A lot of earlier games, we were getting unlucky.

"But today it fell into place. We allowed zero shots on goal in the second half, and we have so much confidence in each other right now."

Junior midfielder Jayden Wheeler was the offensive hero with the game's lone goal in the opening minutes of the second half.

Wheeler slotted a close-range shot to the corner of the goal after freshman midfielder Kylee Dominy passed from inside the box.

"I saw a front-post run, and I just had to get in," Wheeler said. "We've been practicing that all week, and I was not going to stop my run.

"I flicked it in the back of the net, and as soon as it hit the net, I said 'finally.'"

Wheeler has two goals this season, while Dominy picked up her fourth assist, which ranks second on the team.

Jobe added that NSU "trained and trained" on similar plays to Friday's goal.

NSU dominated possession after about the first 20 minutes of the match, particularly in the second half.

None of NSU's six shots were on target in the first half, but six of the Lady Demons' 12 attempts hit their marks in the second half.

Senior April Trowbridge took eight shots with three on goal followed by active players like Dominy (three shots), freshman Aliyah Hale (two shots) and Wheeler (two shots).

"We challenged them at halftime, and we knew we had to test the goalkeeper if we were going to score," Jobe said. "We came out on another level in the second half.

"We really worked and had some nice attacking chances, and we put balls in the box. We trained a lot with putting balls across the frame and had a flick near post. This team worked really hard and deserved it."

Defensively, Jobe mentioned the play of defensive midfielders April Ficarrotta and Alexis Weaver in limiting Southeastern chances.

"We had a great rotation with those two, and they stayed connected so well to their center backs," Jobe said. "That makes things really difficult for teams to find space through the middle."