Women's Basketball Defeated 66-56 at North Dakota State
Women's Basketball / December 21, 2009
FARGO, N. D. – Amy Patton
collected 19 points for Northern Arizona women's basketball
in a 66-56 loss to North Dakota State on Monday at the Bison Sports
Arena. NAU outrebounded the Bison 42-35 and 18-7 on the offensive
glass but shot 30-percent for game compared to North Dakota
State's 43.5-percent.
Patton shot 7-of-20 from the field and for the second straight game
hit 4-of-12 three-point attempts. The freshman guard was the only
Lumberjack in double figures with Lauren Hoisington and Tyler
Stephens-Jenkins each turning in nine points.
NAU (2-10) fell to 0-8 on the road this season while North Dakota
State (7-5) improved to 4-1 at home.
The Lumberjacks have played well on the defensive end in recent
games but have yet to find consistent scoring offensively.
“We are a much better basketball team than what our record
reflects,” said head coach Laurie Kelly of the team's
trouble on the road. “We haven't been able to put a
full game together. We are still trying to figure out our
identity.”
NAU has dropped its last three games and will have nine days to
address its recent struggles before heading to Las Vegas, Nev., for
its last game in 2009 at UNLV on December 29.
“Since the season started all we have been doing is playing
games,” Kelly said. “This break coming up will give us
an opportunity to come back and get after it on the offensive end.
That has to be something we address before conference.”
It is nice to see us doing a better job on the glass. Rebounding
has been our nemesis this year, but on the offensive end what we
need to do is learn what is a good shot and what is not a good
shot. We have to find more consistency scoring the ball and take
higher percentage shots.”
Despite Monday's loss the Lumberjacks still hold the series
edge over North Dakota State at 2-1.
NAU is 2-13 against UNLV all-time.