CHENEY, Wash. – The Northern Arizona women's basketball team could not slow down Eastern Washington's three-point barrage and as a result suffered an 82-62 loss Thursday night at Reese Court. Redshirt senior
Olivia Lucero led the Lumberjacks (4-13 overall, 1-5 Big Sky) with 18 points, nine rebounds and four assists in the defeat.
The Eagles drained 13 three-pointers at a 46.4 percent clip and shot 45.3 percent overall. The Lumberjacks shot just 33.9 percent and committed 19 turnovers, which directly led to 19 Eagle points. A dozen of those 19 turnovers came in the decisive first half, helping Eastern Washington a plus-10 margin in points off turnovers in a 38-22 game at the break.
"We're turning the ball over too much right now and it's impacting our ability to have success," said head coach
Loree Payne. "We need to value the basketball a little better and make the easy looks that we're getting. If we do those things that are in our control, I feel like we're going to have a lot of success. This week, we talked about controlling our energy, our effort and our attitude and I feel like we took steps forward tonight as a team in that regard. We played hard for 40 minutes."
Lucero hit three from behind the arc – matching her total over the last seven games – in addition to recording a new season-high on the glass. Freshman
Lauren Orndoff contributed 11 points off the bench. Orndoff shot 4-of-6 from the field in her fifth double-digit scoring effort of the season.
Lucero had the hot hand early, scoring eight of her 18 points in the first quarter. Her third bucket – and second trey – effectively erased a 5-0 Eastern Washington start to bring the game to a 12-12 tie. She found freshman
Kaprice Boston for a corner jumper on the next possession to give NAU its first and only lead with a minute remaining, but a lengthy Lumberjack drought followed.
Spanning over five minutes from the end of the first into the second quarter, Eastern Washington went on a critical 13-0 run to shift the tide in its favor. Redshirt freshman
Brianna Lehew momentarily snapped the Eagle run, but the 'Jacks would go another three and a half minutes before scoring another basket. NAU would score just eight points in the second quarter.
Redshirt senior
Kenna McDavis and Lucero hit back-to-back threes immediately out of the intermission to cut NAU's deficit to 40-28, only for Eastern Washington to extend its advantage out to 17 midway through the third. Trailing 50-33, NAU went on a 6-0 run – capped by a pair of free throws by junior
Tate Tsingine – to climb back within 11, but the Lumberjacks could not get closer the rest of the way.
Eastern Washington made eight of its 13 threes in the second half while NAU connected on six from behind the arc in the entire game.
The Lumberjacks were outrebounded by just one, 41-40, behind solid rebounding efforts from Lucero, McDavis and junior
Kaleigh Paplow. Behind Lucero's team-high total, McDavis and Paplow each secured seven rebounds.
NAU's next opportunity to bounce back will be Saturday at Idaho. The Lumberjacks and Vandals will tip-off at 3 p.m. MST from Moscow, Idaho in the Cowan Spectrum.
