GREELEY, Colo. – The Northern Arizona women's basketball team had one of their worst offensive performances on Saturday at Northern Colorado and suffered a 79-55 loss to the Bears. NAU received a game-high 15 points from junior Taylor Leyva and 14 points from junior Rene Coggins, but it dropped their fourth consecutive game and saw their record fall to 1-6 in the Big Sky and 5-13 overall.

The Bears shot 47.6 percent for the game, outrebounded the Lumberjacks, 42-29, and outscored the 'Jacks, 43-12, off the bench. NAU recorded season-lows of 17 made baskets and four assists while only shooting 35.4 percent for the game. The Lumberjacks did shoot well from the free throw line, converting on 17-of-21 attempts for 81 percent as they shot over 80 percent from the charity stripe for the fourth consecutive game.

Northern Colorado scored the first six points of the game, while NAU missed its first five shots until freshman Alyssa Rader got the 'Jacks on the board following four and a half scoreless minutes to open the afternoon. Rader knocked down a triple to bring NAU within 8-7 with three minutes left in the first quarter, but the Bears took a 17-9 lead into the second quarter.

The home team's advantage quickly grew to 37-18 with 4:25 to play in the first half, before redshirt junior Shay Young spurred a 6-0 Lumberjack run with four points to cut Northern Colorado's lead to 13 points. However, NAU went scoreless in the final three minutes of the half and went into halftime down 41-24 despite shooting 50 percent from the field in the second quarter.

After junior Rene Coggins led the Lumberjacks in the first half with seven points, junior Taylor Leyva did the damage in the third quarter recording seven points in the period alone. Unfortunately, NAU was unable to cut into Northern Colorado's lead with the Bears shooting 60 percent in the third quarter. The Bears led 61-39 after three quarters of play and their lead never shrunk below 21 points the rest of the way as they completed a wire-to-wire victory.

Leyva shot 6-for-11 from the floor as she continued her excellent play since being inserted into the starting lineup three weeks ago. Coggins was 5-for-10 and made 3-of-6 from three-point range. With her first made trey of the game, she moved into 10th all-time in the school record book and now sits with 90 career three-pointers made. Outside of Leyva and Coggins, the rest of the team combined to shoot 6-for-28; but Rader did wrap up the game with 12 points and a team-high six rebounds.

NAU returns home with hopes of snapping its current skid on Thursday versus Weber State at 6:30 p.m. in the Walkup Skydome. The Lumberjacks will then host Idaho State at 6:30 p.m. on Saturday.