BOULDER, Colo. – The Northern Arizona women's basketball team received career-best scoring games from freshman Alyssa Rader and redshirt junior Shay Young, and despite an inspired third quarter comeback the Lumberjacks fell to Colorado, 90-66. Behind by 12 at halftime, the 'Jacks (3-5) were able to slice their deficit to five in the third quarter before seeing their two-game win streak come to an end.

"I don't think we played the game with a killer instinct and that disappointed me," said head coach Sue Darling. "We missed a boatload of layups and put backs and we didn't close out on a good shooting team. I really liked the way we came out of halftime and competed, but we shouldn't have been down at the half. We couldn't keep that direction going and we weren't ready to beat a Pac-12 team tonight."

Rader enjoyed her homecoming playing first game in her home state of Colorado, and finished with 27 points. Her fast break layup with 4:46 in the third quarter brought the Lumberjacks within five at 46-41, but the Buffaloes were able to regain their composure and hold off the hard charging 'Jacks. Rader also posted 10 rebounds to notch her sixth double-double of the season.

The game got out to a slow start with the teams combining to hit just four of the first 19 shots from the field. After Rader knocked down a three-pointer from straight away to tie the score at 5-5, Colorado finished with a 13-5 run to take an eight-point lead into the second quarter.

Trailing 38-26 at halftime, the Lumberjacks made their push early in the third quarter led by Young. Young almost single-handedly willed the 'Jacks back with nine points – half of her career-high 18 on the evening – in the first five minutes after the break. Off a rebound and outlet pass by junior Brittani Lusain, Rader capped an 11-2 NAU run with her layup midway through the period.

The Buffs immediately responded with a game-deciding 10-2 run themselves though, yet the Lumberjacks went into the fourth quarter down just 14 points. Colorado proceeded to extend its lead out to 20 points just three minutes in and finished off NAU to snap its own three-game losing streak.

Colorado wound up shooting 54.2 percent for the game, including a 58.6 percent clip in the second half, and was hot from downtown, connecting on 7-of-12 three-pointers. NAU itself shot over 50 percent – 51.6 percent to be exact – in the second half, but only shot 35.4 percent for the game.

Facing a bigger Colorado squad, NAU also held its own on the glass trailing by just one, 37-36. Sixteen of the Lumberjacks' 36 rebounds were on the offensive end, which led to NAU holding a 14-6 edge on second chance points. Junior Bradlee Cotton, also one of NAU's four Colorado natives on the roster, collected four of her career-high five rebounds on the offensive glass.

Young, the Big Sky's leading free throw shooter, hit all four of her attempts from the charity stripe on Wednesday and is now at a 95.2 percent clip (20-for-21) this season. For Rader, Wednesday's game was her second consecutive 20 point outing while she bested her 22 points recorded at UC Irvine last Friday.

Lusain finished with eight points, seven rebounds and a team-best three assists, while junior Catelyn Preston and freshman Kaleigh Paplow each tallied a team-high two steals.

The Lumberjacks return to Flagstaff for a Saturday afternoon contest in the Walkup Skydome versus Dixie State. Tip-off this Saturday is 2 p.m. and the game can also been seen live on Fox Sports Arizona and Fox College Sports Pacific.