GAME NOTES (PDF)

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. – The NAU women's basketball team (0-2) faces arguably its toughest road trip of the year this weekend, facing No. 15 Nebraska (2-0) at 6 p.m. Friday and Nebraska Omaha (1-0) at noon Sunday. The matchup with the Cornhuskers will be the first time that any current NAU player has faced a ranked team, as Nebraska was just outside the top-25 when NAU took them to double-overtime in Flagstaff last season.

Friday's game at Nebraska will also be the 1,000th game in NAU women's basketball history. The team has had 10 coaches over 39 seasons and 1,000 games after the program began play in 1974.

"We're looking forward to it; we enjoy the road and we're going out there to win a game and hopefully win two," NAU head coach Sue Darling said. "It's a new team and a new year. There's something about coming close but I don't think you get a cigar for that one. This is a new year and coming close doesn't do any good for us so we're playing to win this year."

NAU's game against Nebraska last season was just the second double-overtime game in program history and the Lumberjacks were one of two teams, joining No. 15 Purdue, to take the Huskers to overtime last season. Amanda Frost had a career-high 24 points in that game while hitting six three-pointers as NAU had shots to win the game at the end of regulation and then end of the first overtime. Lindsey Moore and Jordan Hooper, who return this season as Wade and Naismith national Player of the Year candidates, combined for 63 points on 21-32 shooting to lead Nebraska to the win.

The Lumberjacks have been significantly undermanned to start the 2012-13 season as returning letter winners Frost, Erikka Banks, and Shay May have all been unavailable to play thus far. Additionally, senior Tyler Stephens-Jenkins left mid way through the first half in NAU's season opener at New Mexico and did not play against CSU Bakersfield, leaving the Lumberjacks with just nine dressed players against the Roadrunners. As a result of the short bench, Amy Patton and Paige Haynes have both played all but one minute through two games while Jasmine Sneed played the full 40 minutes against Bakersfield and Aubrey Davis has played 66 minutes through two games.

Sophomore Raven Anderson made her first career start against New Mexico and started again in NAU's home opener on Monday. After appearing in 19 games as a freshman and shooting 48.8% from the field, Anderson has averaged 11 points and 6 rebounds per game thus far in 2012-13 while shooting 45.4%. She scored a career-high 13 points and tied a career high with six rebounds against CSU Bakersfield and is averaging 28.5 minutes per game this season after playing just 7.1 minutes per game last year.

Anderson and the Lumberjacks are shooting 43.6% from the field so far this season and have shot 40% or better in both games. All five Lumberjacks that started vs CSU Bakersfield are shooting over 42% for the year - including guards Amy Patton, Paige Haynes, and Jasmine Sneed. NAU is also shooting 70% from the free throw line so far this season after shooting 61% on free throws last year.

Nebraska opened its season last weekend with home wins over North Carolina A&T, 68-50, and Temple, 64-39 to jump from No. 18 to No. 15 in the national rankings. Last season the Cornhuskers finished 24-9 and were ranked 17th in the final Coaches Poll after losing to Kansas, 57-49, in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. The team returned two other starters this season in addition to Moore and Hooper and brought back 10 letter winners with just two leaving the program. NAU is 0-2 all-time vs Nebraska, having played in Lincoln once before in 2005 in a 70-56 Nebraska win.

Nebraska Omaha, which will host Louisiana on Friday before facing NAU on Sunday, is still in the process of reclassifying to Division-I but is playing a full D-1 schedule in the Summit League this season. The Mavericks went 15-12 last season while going 9-3 at home and returned three starters from last year's squad. The Mavericks opened their season with a 58-44 home win over North Carolina A&T on Monday with senior Paige Frauendorfer leading the way with 15 points and eight rebounds. Sunday's matchup will be the first in program history between NAU and Nebraska Omaha.