SACRAMENTO, Calif. – Amy Patton collected 31 points and 17 rebounds for Northern Arizona women's basketball in a 77-66 loss to Sacramento State at the Hornets Nest on Sunday. In one game, Patton turned in the highest rebound total in the Big Sky Conference and second best scoring performance this year.

“Sacramento State was a better team today,” said head coach Laurie Kelly. “We only had 10 people in uniform with Caty Huntington not making the trip and Lauren Hoisington missing the game with a concussion.”

We were short handed and Sacramento State plays 94-feet. They use a lot of small guards and pressure the ball which created matchup problems for us. We did not have subs at the guard spot. They hurt us on dribble penetration and scored a ton in transition”

NAU (4-15, 2-4 BSC) trailed 37-31 after the first 20 minutes of play in a half that produced five ties and seven lead changes. The Lumberjacks outshot Sacramento State (6-12, 2-4 BSC) 35.3-percent to 30.8-percent in the opening period.

NAU cut the Hornet lead to four early in the second half but would fall behind by as many as 16 points with 11:52 to play. The Lumberjacks mounted a 15-4 run after that cutting the lead down to five points with 6:47 left in the game.

Sacramento State answered with its own run but NAU was able to once again bring the Hornet lead to five points. It would be the closest the Lumberjacks would get as Sacramento State was able to convert 8-of-10 free throws down the stretch to preserve its second Big Sky win of the year.

Patton outperformed the Big Sky's scoring leader, Charday Hunt, with her game-high 31 points on 11-of-28 shooting from the field. The freshman guard from Tempe, Ariz., took a career-high 16 three-point field goals making six. Hunt finished with 26 points on 9-of-21 shooting.

Patton was the only Lumberjack in double figures while Hunt was accompanied in double digits by Tika Koshiyama-Diaz, 16 points, and Ashley Garcia, 12 points.

Patton led all players with 17 rebounds shattering her previous career-high of 13 against Arkansas State on December 5. Vickie Toney also posted a career-high in assists with nine.

NAU outshot Sacramento State for the game but the Hornets earned the win at the line making 24-of-27 free throw attempts. NAU struggled hitting just 6-of-14.

“We were terrible from the free-throw line,” Kelly said. “That was a big thing. We need people to step up. Patton cannot win a game by herself. Vickie (Toney) gave us really good minutes at the point. She handled a ton of pressure but unfortunately got in foul trouble.”

I feel if we had our whole team it would have been a different game. We have been trying to get to this game for two and a half days [because of weather]. We got out played. It is disappointing but we have two more road trips to go in conference play and a bunch of home games. We are expecting Hoisington and Huntington back but we need to pull it together.”

The Lumberjacks will play two games next week in Montana. NAU will play Montana State on Thursday, January 23 at 7:05 p.m. and Montana on Saturday, January 30 also at 7:05 p.m. Both games will be available through Big Sky TV.