CHENEY, Wash. – Northern Arizona women's basketball held a double-digit lead at Eastern Washington, but a late Eagles' surge prevented the upset as the Lumberjacks lost 71-64 to the Big Sky Conference's top team at Reese Court on Saturday. Freshman guard Amy Patton delivered her third straight double-double with 20 points and 13 rebounds.

NAU (5-21, 3-10 BSC) built an early 11-2 lead but Eastern Washington (17-9, 10-3 BSC) answered to take a three-point lead with just under seven minutes remaining in the first half. The Lumberjacks went on a 14-2 run over the next three minutes and would hold a seven-point lead at the half, 34-27.

The second half produced another surge from Eastern Washington, and the Eagles led 47-46 with ten minutes to play. NAU immediately responded with a 15-0 run only to see Eastern Washington erase its lead over the final 5:24 outscoring the Lumberjacks 24-3 during the final stretch.

NAU missed six consecutive field goals and totaled four turnovers over the final five minutes providing Eastern Washington with an opportunity to mount its comeback.

The Lumberjacks cleaned up their recent struggles from the free-throw line shooting 83.3-percent and also out-rebounded Eastern Washington 36-28 for the game. NAU shot 42.3-percent for the game.

The Lumberjacks were led by Patton's team-high 20 points and Caty Huntington chipped in 14 rounding out NAU players in double figures. Eastern Washington had three players post double-digits in scoring led by Tatjana Sparavalo's 21 points off the bench.

The women close out the 2009-10 season at home with a three game home stand over the next two weeks. The Lumberjacks will play next Thursday, February 25 against Sacramento State at 6:35 p.m. in the Walkup Skydome. NAU then plays its final two games the following week against Montana and Montana State.

DID YOU KNOW ... The Lumberjacks had 11 of the 15 intercollegiate teams record a cumulative GPA of 3.0 or higher led by women's soccer at 3.42.  Women's basketball was close behind at 3.39, followed by women's cross country (3.35), women's golf (3.29), swimming and diving (3.25), volleyball (3.22), and men's cross country (3.19).