FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. – The Northern Arizona women's basketball team fought back from an eight-point halftime deficit and muscled their way past Southern Utah in overtime for a 73-64 victory to even their Big Sky record to 4-4. The Lumberjacks, now 8-11 for the season, received a career-high 17 points from junior Mariah Willadsen and double-doubles from seniors Raven Anderson and Erikka Banks in NAU's second come-from-behind home win over Southern Utah in as many years.

"This was a hard fought win and that is a really high quality team in Southern Utah," said head coach Sue Darling. "It's important that we win games like this. It was a gutsy effort by everyone. Everyone was flying around and we picked ourselves up, dusted off and this is a team that loves each other. This is a fun team to coach."

A year after overcoming an 18-point halftime deficit to the Thunderbirds in the Skydome, NAU needed a repeat performance to outlast Southern Utah in its first overtime game of the season.

Trailing 25-15 with 3:24 left in the first half and struggling to bust SUU's zone, junior Madi Austin and sophomore Rene Coggins bookended an 8-0 Lumberjack run with triples that brought NAU within 25-23 before Southern Utah ended the half with a pair of three-pointers. Although NAU held Southern Utah to just 31.4 percent shooting at the half, the Thunderbirds were able to knock down six threes to take a 31-23 halftime lead.

Behind strong inside play with six of seven baskets in the paint to start the second half, Anderson put the Lumberjacks ahead 37-35 following a 14-4 run through the first six minutes. The teams exchanged blows throughout the final 14 minutes of regulation and it was Southern Utah which had a 59-57 lead with three minutes to go before Willadsen knocked down a shot to tie the game with 1:25 to play. After a missed shot by Lusain, Southern Utah had one final chance but came up empty on its final possession.

Coggins' jumper to open the extra period was answered by a pair of SUU free throws before Banks stole the show. In overtime alone, Banks recorded five points and four rebounds with all five of her points coming during a decisive 8-0 run which gave NAU a 69-61 lead with 30 seconds remaining on its way to a win.

Southern Utah shot just 1-for-8 from the floor in the final five minutes, while NAU sealed the game with a 10-for-13 performance from the charity stripe.

"Coach told us at halftime that we needed fight in our eyes and we came together and took it from there," Willadsen said. "We just need to go into every game with the fight that we had starting with the second half. We didn't shoot well the last time we played them so we knew we had to shoot better."

After shooting just 23.4 percent, their lowest percentage this season, against Southern Utah in the teams' first meeting in Cedar City on Jan. 10, the 'Jacks improved to 40.6 percent on Saturday including 51.6 percent in the second half. NAU also was plus-eight on the glass and for the game limited SUU to 30.3 percent from the floor.

Willadsen was one of four Lumberjacks in double-figure shooting 8-for-14 on her way to her season-best 17 points to go along with eight rebounds. Banks and Anderson each posted 14 points while tallying a double-double each with 11 and 10 rebounds respectively. Coggins came off the bench to add 10 points, including a pair of threes, in addition to six boards and five assists.

Sophomore Brittani Lusain had a well-rounded line of eight points, nine rebounds, seven assists and a team-high three steals while junior Monique Mulder helped clinch the win with five free throws in overtime and finished with seven points.

"What I like about our team is our balance," Darling said. "I really think our balance showed tonight and we're not one-dimensional. The star of our team is our entire team."

The Lumberjacks will hit the road for their longest remaining road trip next week traveling to Northern Colorado on Thursday before playing North Dakota on Saturday.