QUOTE SHEET (HEAD COACH SUE DARLING/RAVEN ANDERSON)

MISSOULA, Mont. – The Northern Arizona women's basketball team trimmed a 22-point halftime deficit to as low as 14 in the second half, but ultimately saw their season come to an end in the Big Sky Quarterfinals at the hands of Eastern Washington, 73-57, Wednesday night. The fifth-seeded 'Jacks outscored the fourth-seeded Eagles by six after half and outshot EWU, but could not pull themselves all the way back, finishing the season with a 13-17 overall record.

"We just needed to play," said head coach Sue Darling. "Sometimes you come here, it's your first time, and you're a little nervous. We had a hard time settling in and playing our game. Once we figured out how, we played our game. It was a much different second half than first half and now we know it's one thing to get here, but it's another thing to work your way through this tournament. I credit Raven (Anderson) and Erikka (Banks) for being pioneers. They got this party started for us, and we'll take it from here. Expect us back many times and to have a better performance."

In her final game in the Lumberjack blue and gold, senior Raven Anderson shined posting her seventh double-double of the season. She posted 12 points and 12 rebounds while also blocking two shots to finish her career in sixth all-time on the school career blocks chart.

The Eagles soared out to a 9-2 lead before senior Erikka Banks answered with a three-point play. Another Banks score kept NAU within 19-11 before Eastern Washington rattled off 21 of the next 24 points. By the time Anderson converted on back-to-back buckets, NAU had trailed 40-14 approaching three minutes before half.

Anderson's consecutive field goals coupled with two free throws from Banks helped NAU finish the first half on a 6-2 run, but the Eagles took a 42-20 lead into halftime. In the first half, the Lumberjacks were plagued by 13 turnovers, which led to 16 Eagle points. Eastern Washington also grabbed 10 offensive rebounds, which turned into nine second chance points.

After a rocky first half in their first appearance in the conference tournament in six years, the Lumberjacks gathered their composure and performed admirably in the final 20 minutes. Freshman Tori Lloyd's three-pointer came at the tail end of a 7-2 run to open the half, but the Eagles answered every run by NAU.

However, the Lumberjacks slowly chipped away at the Eagles and after trailing by as much as 24, NAU still was relentless in its pursuit of a comeback. A free throw by Banks pulled the Lumberjacks within 15 at 58-43 with 7:34 remaining in the game and following another spurt by the Eagles that pushed their lead back out to 20, NAU got consecutive baskets by Lloyd and Anderson to get as close as 14 with three minutes remaining.

In NAU's strong second half, it outshot Eastern Washington, 44.8 percent to 40 percent, and also sliced its turnovers in half. The Lumberjacks turned the ball over just six times in the second half and outscored the Eagles in points off turnovers by four after being minus-14 in the first half.

"We decided that this was it, go big or go home literally," Anderson said. "We didn't have anything to lose so we fought and put it all out there."

Sophomore Brittani Lusain led the Lumberjacks in the game with 16 points – a dozen coming after the intermission. Behind Anderson, Lloyd tallied 11 points including a pair of three-pointers in the second half. Banks, like Anderson, played her final game as a Lumberjack and finished with eight points and eight rebounds while sophomore Rene Coggins contributed two triples on her way to eight points.

For the game, Eastern Washington shot 44.3 percent while NAU shot 40.4 percent from the field. The Eagles outrebounded the 'Jacks, 42-31, and turned the ball over eight times less than NAU.

Still despite the loss, the Lumberjacks enjoyed their most successful season in recent years. The 13 wins, as well as NAU's nine Big Sky victories during the regular season, were the team's highest totals since the 2006-07 season. NAU also significantly outplayed the preseason expectations handed to it by the league coaches and media. Picked to finish 10th, the Lumberjacks finished in a tie for fifth in the conference standings and earned the tournament's fifth seed.

"We had hunger from the beginning," Anderson said. "We knew we were picked 10th and we wanted to prove a lot of people wrong. We worked really hard, we played together and it showed. We didn't get exactly where we wanted to be but we're headed in the right direction. I have positive thoughts for NAU in the following years."

"I'm really proud of our team and we accomplished great things this season," Darling added. "When you're trying to turn a program around, it starts with building a culture and I believe we've done that. We've built it on hard work, defense and rebounding. We'll add a couple of new players into the mix and be good to go (next year)."