FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. – Northern Arizona women's basketball will start the 2009-10 season with its first official practice scheduled for Friday, Oct. 16. The Lumberjacks finished the 2008-09 year at 9-21 and 6-10 in the Big Sky Conference. NAU advanced to the Big Sky Championships for the fifth consecutive year.

Even though formal practices begin on Friday, the women's basketball team has been working hard since players returned to NAU on Aug. 19. According to head coach Laurie Kelly, the preseason may have been the most grueling part of the basketball year and the start of practice then becomes a marker for the start of the actual season.

“The preseason is always the hardest for the student-athletes because there are no games in sight,” Kelly said. “You get excited at this point because it opens up opportunities to start teaching and breaking things down. It is an exciting challenge to get in there and start getting your team ready to play.”

They have been doing a lot of conditioning and a lot of weight training. They are only on the court for two total hours a week in the preseason; now, we have the opportunity to get in six days a week and really start to prepare for the season.”

With only three weeks till the first exhibition game and less than a month from the first regular season game, the NAU coaching staff is faced with the challenge of preparing the Lumberjacks both mentally and physically for a season that is fast approaching.

“We had a team meeting yesterday and really broke it down,” Kelly said. “You don't think the season is right around the corner, but all of a sudden you say, 'You are four weeks away from tipping off.' When you start to list the things that come together in a basketball game and need to be practiced, we get them to understand there is a lot to do in three or four weeks.”

NAU will play an exhibition game against New Mexico Highlands at the Walkup Skydome at 6:35 p.m. on November 6. The Lumberjacks travel to Malibu, Calif., for their first regular season game against Pepperdine on November 13.