FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. – The Northern Arizona women's basketball team gave unbeaten Eastern Washington a furious challenge in the fourth quarter by cutting an 18-point deficit to seven, but the Lumberjacks eventually fell 81-71 in the Walkup Skydome Saturday night. NAU dropped to 5-11 overall and 1-4 in the Big Sky with its second consecutive defeat.

"Eastern Washington came out on fire and hit a couple of big shots and when they did miss, they got too many offensive rebounds and that hurt us in the first half," said head coach Sue Darling. "The second half was phenomenal, but we have to figure out how to win both the first half and the second half. The second half is how we want to play. We played smart basketball and played hard together and we need to put 40 minutes together."

Four Lumberjacks scored in double-figures for the first time in 10 games led by juniors Taylor Leyva and Rene Coggins who each scored a team-high 17. For Leyva, the total matched her career-high, while Coggins tied her career-high with seven made free throws on a perfect evening from the charity stripe.

Freshmen Kaleigh Paplow and Alyssa Rader added to the cause off the bench with 16 and 10 points respectively. Rader tallied her ninth double-double of the season with a game-high 13 rebounds and also led the Lumberjacks with three assists and two blocks.

The Eagles, undefeated in conference play, came out of the gates by shooting 52.4 percent in the first quarter to take a 25-14 lead. Eastern Washington scored the game's first seven points until junior Catelyn Preston put a halt to EWU's game-opening run, but the Eagles' lead quickly grew 17-4 less than five minutes into the game.

NAU trimmed its deficit to 36-26 following a jumper by senior Monique Mulder that beat the shot clock with 2:45 left before the half, only to see Eastern Washington answer with a 7-0 run. Redshirt junior Shay Young drained a three-pointer as the first half buzzer sounded though and the 'Jacks went into halftime down, 43-29.

After allowing Eastern Washington to shoot 48.5 percent in the first half, NAU clamped down defensively in the final 20 minutes to win the second half by four points. The Eagles shot just 32.1 percent in the second half from the field, but was nearly automatic from the free throw line converting on 17-of-18 attempts after halftime.

The Lumberjacks trailed 67-49 with eight minutes remaining in the game before they turned the heat on the Eagles with an 11-0 run. Leyva, who scored 15 of her 17 points after the intermission, started the surge with a layup before Rader contributed the next four points. A three-pointer by Paplow, who set a new season-high point total for the second straight night, got the Eastern Washington lead to single digits and Leyva capped the run with a bucket.

Following the NAU run, the Lumberjacks found themselves down just 67-60 – the closest they got to the Eagles since trailing 11-4 in the first quarter. However, EWU went a perfect 12-for-12 from the line to close the game to hold off the fast-charging NAU squad.

"Our intensity was too low to come out from the get-go and that's something we need to work on," Coggins said. "We came out too complacent, but our energy on the offensive and defensive boards was really good in the second half. Our defense got us going in the second half, but allowing 43 points in the first half is too much."

For as good as Eastern Washington shot at the free throw line – 80.6 percent – NAU shot a season-best 87.5 percent itself making 21-of-24. The Eagles did outshoot NAU for the game, 41.0 percent to 34.8 percent, but the Lumberjacks won the rebounding battle 44-41 and used 18 offensive rebounds to hold a plus-nine advantage in second chance points.

NAU hits the road once again after going 1-2 on its season-long three game homestand next week starting with a trip to North Dakota next Thursday. The 'Jacks then take a visit to Northern Colorado next Saturday before returning to the Skydome in two weeks.