FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. – Northern Arizona women's basketball slipped to 2-2 in the Big Sky Conference falling to league's top team, Montana State, 82-70, at the Rolle Activity Center on Saturday.  Sophomore Amy Patton scored 24 points with seven rebounds in the defeat.

NAU (7-10, 2-2 BSC) withstood an opportunistic Montana State team in the opening 20 minutes.  The Bobcats forced the Lumberjacks into 10 turnovers in the first half and held an 11 point lead less than 10 minutes into the half.

The lead was 11 with five minutes left in the half before NAU went on a 9-0 run to cut the deficit to two points with 1:30 on the clock.  Montana State pushed its lead back to five points and the Lumberjacks entered the break down 41-36.

The Lumberjacks posted their best shooting performance of the season hitting 50 percent of their shots in the first half; however, the women let Montana State shot 57 percent in the opening period.

NAU fell behind by double digits early in the second half but fought back again to cut the lead 50 three points at 56-53 with 10 minutes to play.  A 12-3 run opened the largest lead of the game for Montana State with five minutes to play.

The women twice cut the Bobcat lead to eight but NAU would not get any closer with Montana State moving to 3-0 early into the Big Sky season.

Patton scored the team-high on 9-of-21 shooting from the field.  She scored 12 points in each period of play finishing with two made three pointers and went 4-of-6 from the free throw line.

Patton was aided by sophomore Tyler Stephens-Jenkins who finished with 15 points.  She made 5-of-10 field goals and was 3-of-7 from behind the arc. 

Montana State was led by Rachel Semansky's game-high 26 points.  The sophomore forward finished 11-of-13 from the field and also collected a game-high 13 rebounds.

The Lumberjacks turned in their best shooting percentage in conference play hitting 43 percent of their shots from the field.  It was the best output by the women since Dec. 11 at San Diego when the team converted 44.8 percent of its shots.

The Lumberjacks depth showed throughout the game and kept NAU close outscoring the conference's best team, 21-4, off the bench.

The women are in the midst of a four-game homestand and will host Eastern Washington and Portland State next week.  The Lumberjacks face the Eagles on Thursday, Jan. 20 at 6:35 p.m. and the Vikings on Saturday, Jan. 22 at 6:35 p.m.  Both games will be played at the Rolle Activity Center.

DID YOU KNOW…Northern Arizona finished third in the Sterling Savings Bank Presidents Cup recognizing academic and athletics performances in 2008-09. The award is based on team grade point averages, graduation rates and the number of all-conference performers with a grade point average above a 3.0, as well as Men's and Women's All Sports points.