FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. – Northern Arizona women's basketball was unable to send off senior Liana Boer and junior Lauren Hoisington with a win on Senior Night as the Lumberjacks lost, 68-64, to Montana State in the Walkup Skydome on Saturday night. Katie Pratt delivered a career-high 20 points, but the Lumberjacks fell just short in the final game of the 2009-10 season.

Pratt turned in her best performance of the season shooing 8-of-13 from the field and 4-of-8 from behind the three-point line. She also totaled five rebounds, three assists, and two steals in a career-high 31 minutes.

“You hit that first shot and you get going,” said Pratt of her career night. “Once you start hitting a few your teammates start looking for you. At one point, we had three plays in a row that were run for me. I was like, 'Coach, what is going on here?' Hopefully it is a sign of the future. I just need to keep working hard.”

NAU (5-23, 3-13 BSC) trailed Montana State (16-13, 9-7 BSC), 36-24, at the end of the first half. The Lumberjacks fell behind by 17 points at the 18:26 mark, but outscored the Bobcats, 24-9, over the next nine minutes cutting the Montana State lead to only two points at 52-50.

The Lumberjacks traded baskets with Montana State over the next several possessions before the Bobcats pushed their lead back to eight points. A three-pointer from Pratt cut the lead to five points with five minutes left to play, but Montana State responded with a layup from Janette Jackson to push its lead back to seven.

NAU fought back with two straight baskets and were within three points, but the Lumberjacks would not come any closer falling by four points in the last game of the year.

“We were consistently in games,” said head coach Laurie Kelly of the team's performance this season. “We were just not doing what we needed to do down the stretch which took us out of games.”

In her final game as a Lumberjack, Hoisington played 30 minutes and scored 12 points shooting 6-of-13 from the field. Boer played nine minutes, collected three points, and five rebounds in her final game as a Lumberjack.

“I had a great experience playing here for four years,” said Boer. “I think this team has a bright future looking at all the kids coming in and looking at our returners. I definitely am going to keep watching stats and games online when I can. I expect to see big things out of these girls.”

The Lumberjacks 14-year run of Big Sky Championship appearances will come to an end this season. It was the second longest active streak in the Big Sky. NAU last missed the conference tournament during the 1994-95 season.

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).