GREELEY, Colo. – Northern Arizona women's basketball dropped its Big Sky Conference opener 66-56 at Northern Colorado on Saturday at the Butler-Hancock Sports Center. The Lumberjacks were led by junior forward Lauren Hoisington's game-high 16 points while sophomore guard Caty Huntington chipped in 13 off the bench.

“Northern Colorado did what they are supposed to do,” said head coach Laurie Kelly. “They won at home. You try to go and steal one on the road but we just could not get that done.”

NAU (2-12, 0-1 BSC) played Northern Colorado (8-6, 1-0 BSC) within four over the first 20 minutes behind six points apiece from Hoisington and junior forward Jenna Galloway. As a team, the Lumberjacks shot just 31.4-percent from the field and were 0-6 on three-point attempts. The Bears shot 33.3-percent in the first half.

NAU managed to take the lead early in the second half at 29-28 after being down as many as eight at the four minute mark of the first half. The Lumberjacks orchestrated a 13-4 run to close the half and during the opening minutes of the second.

NAU improved its shooting in the final 20 minutes converting 39.4-percent of its shots and narrowly edged out the Bears who hit 39.3-percent. For the game the Lumberjacks shot 35.3-percent compared to Northern Colorado's 36.5-percent, but the difference came at the free-throw line. The Bears hit 24-of-33 while NAU went just 6-of-9 from the line.

“It shows how much more aggressive Northern Colorado was than we were,” Kelly said of the disparity from the free-throw line. “We had people in foul trouble the whole game.”

Hoisington and Huntington finished as the only Lumberjacks in double figures. Freshman guard Amy Patton was held under 10 points for just the second times this year. She would finish with five points.

Northern Colorado had three players in double figures with Lauren Oosdyke posting a double-double with 15 points and 12 rebounds. The Bears leading scorers, Whitley Cox and Courtney Stoermer, each added 14 points.

“We are still struggling to score points,” Kelly said. “Hoisington and Huntington played well and we did good things in the first half. I thought we played well in the second half for awhile, but they dominated the glass in the second half. Their two big kids we were looking to stop only shot 25-percent, but they went 14-of-16 on free-throws.”

NAU will return next weekend for back-to-back games on Friday, January 8 and Saturday, January 9 at Idaho State and Weber State, respectively.