FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. – The Northern Arizona women's basketball team got off to a slow start and could not overcome their lowest scoring quarter and half of the season as they dropped their fifth consecutive game Thursday night, 76-56, to Weber State in the Walkup Skydome. The Lumberjacks are now 5-14 overall and 1-7 in conference play.

"We just have to play better," said head coach Sue Darling. "We got some great shots in the first quarter and just missed them. We need to have the determination to not get down after missing shots, because then we come down and play bad defense. We have to play together and move forward from this one because we have a big game on Saturday."

The Lumberjacks struggled offensively shooting just 31.7 percent for the game and committed a season-worst 28 turnovers in the defeat. NAU was able to outrebound Weber State by four, 44-40, including crashing the offensive glass to the tune of 15 offensive rebounds, but the Wildcats' pressure caused the Lumberjacks problems. Weber State totaled 20 steals, the most by an NAU opponent this season.

NAU missed its first three shots and turned the ball over four times before junior Rene Coggins knocked down NAU's first basket three minutes into the game. Coggins followed with another bucket and freshman Alyssa Rader put in a layup during a 6-0 Lumberjack run to push NAU in front, 6-5, at the 3:58 mark in the first quarter. However, the Lumberjacks failed to score again yet trailed just 9-6 after 10 minutes of play.

The 'Jacks shot just 3-for-14 in the first quarter and did not find much more success in the second quarter, shooting 5-for-15. Weber State extended its lead to 28-12 with 1:37 remaining before half until senior Monique Mulder finished with the final five points, including a buzzer-beating layup, to help NAU cut its deficit to 28-17 at halftime. NAU's six first quarter points and 17 total points in the first half were the low numbers of the season.

Redshirt junior Shay Young scored the Lumberjacks' first four points of the second half to bring the Lumberjacks to within nine at 30-21, but Weber State held a double-digit lead throughout the remainder of the game. NAU fought until the end, posting its best scoring quarter in the final period and totaled eight second chance points in the final 10 minutes off seven offensive rebounds, but its challenging first half proved to be too big of a hole to climb out.

Weber State shot 44.4 percent in the second half to keep NAU at bay and wound up shooting 37.9 percent overall. The Wildcats did a lot of damage behind the arc, connecting on nine three-pointers and also got to the free throw line 32 times while making 23 freebies.

NAU did force Weber State into 20 turnovers itself and every player on the roster recorded at least one steal in the game, but the damage the Lumberjacks inflicted on themselves outweighed the Wildcats' miscues.

Young finished with a team-high 11 points and grabbed a career-high nine rebounds. Coggins, Rader and freshman Kaleigh Paplow each finished with nine points. Leyva strung together a stat line of seven points, seven rebounds and a team-high four assists, while Rader pulled down a team-best 10 rebounds.

The Lumberjacks hope to put an end to their losing streak on Saturday at 6:30 p.m. in the Walkup Skydome versus Idaho State.