NEW ORLEANS- The Northwestern State women’s basketball team squeaked by New Orleans 53-52 Friday night and gave co-head coaches Brooke and Scott Stoehr the first win of their careers.

A last second shot by UNO’s Keri Thomas missed to give Northwestern State (1-0) the first win of the 2012-13 campaign and dropped New Orleans to 0-1.

Northwestern State was led by newcomer Markeshia Johnson with 13 points and sophomore Jasmine Bradley with 12 points and eight rebounds in her return to the court after missing most of last season with a knee injury.

The Lady Demons forced the Lady Privateers into 22 turnovers and had 15 steals; freshman Janelle Perez, senior Jasmine Upchruch, and Bradley each had three steals.

The Lady Demons turned the ball over only 14 times, and nine of those came in the first half.

“I felt the turnovers were a key to the game,” said BrookeStoehr. “We valued the ball and just did a good job of taking care of it, especially in the second half.”

Offensively, The Lady Demons connected on 31 percent from the field (19-60) and hit one three-pointer in the game.

Another key to the game was the offensive rebounds to get up second chance shots.  NSU finished the game with 18 offensive boards and 26 overall.

The Lady Demons return to action on Monday when they open the home slate against Alcorn State with tip-off slated for 7 o’clock.