FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. – A 15-5 third quarter provided the cushion the Northern Arizona women's basketball team needed to erase the zero in their Big Sky win column on Saturday, as the Lumberjacks defeated Southern Utah, 57-48. NAU (5-9, 1-2 Big Sky) snapped its four-game losing streak and picked up their first conference win with freshman Alyssa Rader posting a near triple-double with 19 points, 10 rebounds and a season-high seven assists.

"Defense and rebounding were the keys to the game," said head coach Sue Darling. "We did a much better job in the second half with controlling our turnovers. We are a growth-oriented team and we didn't like the way we finished the Montana State game (last Saturday). We've been working on our mindset and it's a matter of us playing at our highest capability."

Rader fell shy of a triple-double, but did collect her conference-leading eighth double-double of the season. Facing consistent double-teams on the block, Rader facilitated the offense by finding junior Rene Coggins and senior Mariah Willadsen around the perimeter. The NAU starting guards finished with 14 and 11 points respectively, as Rader was responsible for half of NAU's 14 assists in the game.

"A lot of teams are going to look to double Alyssa inside," Coggins said. "We've been working on it as a team whether it's Alyssa passing out or us recognizing it as guards to put her in the best position. It paid off today."

Consecutive threes by Rader and junior Taylor Leyva started a 10-0 first quarter run to put NAU ahead 12-5 four minutes into the game. NAU then led 18-10, before Southern Utah closed the opening period on an 8-0 run to send the teams deadlocked after one quarter. The story remained the same heading into halftime with the teams tied at 29-29 following an offensively challenged second quarter in which neither team shot better than 32 percent from the floor.

Rader exerted herself on the game in the third quarter, scoring on an offensive put back on NAU's first possession to open the second half. Rader and Willadsen accounted for all 10 of NAU's points during a 10-1 run that proved to be decisive giving the Lumberjacks a 39-30 lead with 6:15 to go in the quarter.

Southern Utah's struggles – hitting just 2-of-13 from the field in the third quarter – led to just five Thunderbird points in the period and were a large reason NAU went into the fourth with a 44-34 lead. From there, the Lumberjack lead never fell below seven as the outcome would prove to be a favorable one for NAU, one week after the 'Jacks saw their double-digit fourth quarter lead evaporate at Montana State.

"They missed 14 free throws and that could have hurt us because we only won by nine," Rader said. "We do need to work on our defense without fouling, but we refused to lose again and Southern Utah is a good team. We saw our mistakes from our last game and we told ourselves 'not this time.'"

Both teams had difficulties on the offensive end with NAU shooting just 34.4 percent for the game and Southern Utah winding up at 27.9 percent. The difference was that the Thunderbirds made just five field goals in the entire second half and the visitors made just 11-of-25 from the charity stripe.

While Southern Utah held significant advantages in points off turnovers (23-10) and bench points (17-2), NAU won the battle on the boards, 52-44, against the second-best rebounding team in the conference. In addition to Rader's 10 rebounds, Leyva (10), Coggins (7) and junior Bradlee Cotton (6) all set new career-highs on the glass.

With its first conference win out of the way, NAU will look to build on it with a pair of home games next week. First, the Lumberjacks will host Idaho on Thursday, Jan. 14 followed by Eastern Washington next Saturday, Jan. 16. Both games will tip-off at 6:30 p.m. in the Walkup Skydome.