FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. – Northern Arizona women's basketball dropped its third straight game with a 64-61 loss to Weber State in the Walkup Skydome on Thursday. The Lumberjacks had a shot to tie the game as Caty Huntington forced a turnover with under 10 seconds to play but hoisted a three-point shot that bounced off the back iron.

“She made a great play and thought there was less time on the clock,” said head coach Laurie Kelly of Huntington's shot with seven seconds left that ended the game. “We may have gotten a better look, but in a three-point game there are many times throughout where you could find possessions where we could have gotten points.”

The Lumberjacks forced 21 turnovers and tied a season-high in steals with 12. Amy Patton totaled a career-best five steals while Huntington turned in three.

“I thought we played hard tonight, but not smart,” Kelly said. “They are a good shooting team and they made their open shots. We did not execute the game plan and make smart decisions at critical times.”

NAU (5-18, 3-7 BSC) trailed by five at halftime but came out in the second half with an immediate 8-0 run. The Lumberjacks would push its lead to six points, but Weber State (8-15, 3-8 BSC) came back with a 19-6 run to go up by seven.

The Lumberjacks answered the Wildcat run and slowly fought back down the stretch. Huntington's layup with 35 seconds remaining cut the lead to three. Her brilliant defensive play gave NAU a chance to send the game to overtime, but the Lumberjacks fell short after the missed three-point attempt.

Patton finished with a game-high 22 points on 9-of-19 shooting. Vickie Toney was the only other Lumberjack in double figures with 10 points. NAU was out shot for game 40.6-percent to 44.2-percent. Weber State had three players in double figures including Megan Patterson who came off the bench for a team-high 15 points.

The NAU women were also shorthanded on Thursday playing without the services of Tyler Stephens-Jenkins who missed the game due to injury. Kelly and her staff used the entire bench to make up for the loss of Stephens-Jenkins.

“Not having Tyler was huge for us,” Kelly said. “We struggled to replace her minutes. We had people playing out of position and we just ran out of gas. We only had nine points off the bench compared to their 29.”

NAU will look to avenge the loss on Saturday against Idaho State (10-14, 5-6 BSC) at 6:35 p.m. in the Walkup Skydome.

DID YOU KNOW…The Lumberjacks' 3.16 cumulative GPA was the highest since department grades have been tracked starting in 1997 and marked the 11th semester in the last 12 overall the NAU student-athletes have recorded a 3.00 cumulative GPA. Since 1998, NAU student athletes have earned a 3.0 cumulative GPA or higher in 21 of the 23 semesters.