FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. – The Northern Arizona women's basketball team clamped down defensively and shut down UC Irvine on their way to a 66-35 season opening victory Friday night in the Rolle Activity Center. The Lumberjacks, who allowed 79.3 points per game a year ago, held the Anteaters to just 21.3 percent shooting to open the season 1-0 for the first time since 2007 after six consecutive season opening defeats.

"We've been working really hard on our defense so I was really proud of our defensive effort tonight," said head coach Sue Darling. "To hold them to 35 points is phenomenal and we outrebounded them by 25, and had 22 offensive rebounds. It was a gritty and gutsy effort and it wasn't a pretty game, but the girls have bought into the defense we're playing now. It's been fun to watch them improve every day, but we still have a lot of work to do."

The 35 points allowed was the lowest opponent total against NAU since exactly eight years to the date in a 72-32 victory against Western New Mexico. Against Division I opponents, the last time NAU allowed fewer points was Jan. 19, 2002 spanning 348 games against Sacramento State in a 101-29 win.

Senior Erikka Banks had a stellar debut to her final season, finishing with a double-double on 16 points and 15 rebounds along with three steals. Eight of Banks' rebounds came on the offensive glass as part of NAU's 22 team offensive rebounds. Sophomore Brittani Lusain finished with a game-high 18 points including a pair of triples and an 8-of-9 showing at the free-throw line in addition to seven rebounds, four assists and two steals.

The game began closely contested with NAU leading by just one, 13-12, 10 minutes into the contest. However, the Lumberjacks slowly put distance between themselves and the Anteaters finishing the half on a 10-3 run in the final five minutes to take a 32-21 lead into halftime.

"Coach told us in the locker room that the first team to settle down will go on a run first and we did that," Lusain said. "There were some early jitters, but it turned out great for us. We've been working on our defense since the end of last season and it felt good to see things fall into place after how hard we worked."

With an 11-point lead in hand, the 'Jacks took it to the Anteaters in the second half as the visitors scored just 14 points after halftime on 4-of-23 shooting (17.4 percent). Sophomore Rene Coggins struck quickly with six points in the first two minutes and forced an early UCI timeout. UC Irvine answered with a basket out of the timeout, but that would be its only make from the field over the next 14 minutes as it missed its next 16 shots.

NAU used a 14-0 run over the next eight minutes to take a 31-point lead, 54-23, before the Anteaters made a free throw with 9:53 left to go and overall led by 38 points when UCI made its second field goal of the half with 4:16 left. The Lumberjacks' dominating second half was more than enough to cruise to victory despite shooting only 36.4 percent from the field.

The Lumberjacks balanced their low shooting percentage with their lock down defense as the Anteaters only made 10 field goals, equaling the fewest made field goals in the Skydome/Rolle Activity Center history. UC Irvine also narrowly missed the facility record for fewest points in a half (11) and worst field goal percentage (20.8 percent).

Senior Raven Anderson had an all-around game as well finishing with 10 points, nine rebounds, four assists and two blocks. Junior Mariah Willadsen grabbed 10 rebounds herself, aiding NAU's commanding 56-31 rebounding advantage.

"Our main focus was to rebound and box out because we knew their strength was going to the offensive boards," Banks said. "We were very excited to start the season and we showed everybody what we're capable of."

NAU wraps up the first weekend of play Sunday afternoon at 2 p.m. in the Rolle Activity Center against Western New Mexico. The game can be heard live for free here with the pregame show starting at 1:40 p.m.