Women's Basketball Falls After Strong Second Half from Montana State
Women's Basketball / February 03, 2011
BOZEMAN, Mont. - Northern Arizona women's basketball dropped its fifth-consecutive Big Sky Conference game with an 80-64 loss to Montana State on Thursday.
NAU (7-14, 2-6 BSC) continued its solid play at Worthington Arena jumping ahead 27-22 after the first period of play. The Lumberjacks shot 36 percent in the first half and limited Montana State to 29 percent shooting from the field.
The second half was a different story as Montana State came out on fire shooting 65 percent over the final 20 minutes led by junio Katie Bussey's 24 second half points.
The Lumberjacks shot well in the second half but Montana State's nine second half three-point field goals flipped the lead for good early in the second half. Bussey finished with a game-high 28 points after scoring just four in the first half.
NAU's Amy Patton led the Lumberjacks with 21 points in only 17 minutes of play off the bench. She shot 8-of-15 from the field and collected three rebounds. Tiffany Amos came off the bench as well chipping in 13 points. Patton and Amos were the only Lumberjacks in double figures.
Four Bobcats finished in double figures led by Bussey's 28. Sarah Balian recored 16 points followed by Lyndi Seidensticker's 14 and Rachel Semansky's 12. The Lumberjacks kept Semansky in check after she erupted for 26 points and 13 rebounds three weeks ago in Flagstaff.
The women are off on Friday but play Saturday, Feb. 5 at 2:05 p.m. at Montana.
DID YOU KNOW…Northern Arizona senior David McNeill was selected as the Male Academic All-America® of the Year in the University division for the 2009-10 ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America® Men's Track and Field and Cross Country Teams, as chosen by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA). He is one of 12 student-athletes in the country to earn the title of Academic All-America of the Year in the university division, joining the likes of Florida's Tim Tebow in football, Kansas' Cole Aldrich in men's basketball and Connecticut's Maya Moore in women's basketball among the individual sport winners.
