LOS ANGELES, Calif. (November 23, 2018) – The Northern Arizona women's basketball led for less than four minutes total, but they had the lead when it mattered. In their opener of the LMU Thanksgiving Classic, the Lumberjacks knocked off previously unbeaten Loyola Marymount on their home court, 63-62, to improve to 4-1.
Redshirt sophomore
Caitlin Malvar knocked down the game-winning jumper with 7.4 seconds on the clock and Loyola Marymount's last-second three-point heave at the buzzer did not draw iron securing an impressive victory for the 'Jacks. The Lions had entered the game 3-0 with two of those wins coming against Pac-12 opponents.
"LMU is a really good team and we knew we would have to play well to compete with them," said head coach
Loree Payne. "I don't think we played as well as we could've – we left 10 points on the board with free throws – and there are things we definitely could've done better. It was an incredibly physical game and we showed a lot of composure down the stretch."
NAU won despite shooting only 9-for-19 from the free throw line. However, NAU shot 44.8 percent from the field and clamped down to hold Loyola Marymount to just 36.4 percent shooting.
An undersized Lumberjack squad battled hard against their larger opponents, and fought on the glass despite being outrebounded slightly, 42-38. Six 'Jacks posted at least four boards, led by six each from senior
Kaleigh Paplow and redshirt sophomore
Jacey Bailey, in a collective rebounding effort.
"Rebounding was one of our focuses coming into the game," Payne said. "There were a couple of possessions in the first half where we gave up three or four (offensive rebounds), but we had a conversation at halftime about limiting them to one shot. We were undersized at almost every position and they came in and got after it."
Paplow led all players with a season-high 23 points in her third 20-point outing of the season. Sophomore
Lauren Orndoff match her season-best with 15 points on 7-for-10 shooting. Malvar had a solid game off the bench, recording seven points, five rebounds and seven assists.
The lead changed hands twice in the final minute with the Lumberjacks ultimately prevailing. With NAU trailing 60-59, Paplow initially gave the Lumberjacks the lead with 32 seconds left with a layup. The Lions came right back down and hit a layup themselves to retake a 62-61 advantage with 12.2 seconds remaining.
After the Lumberjacks advanced the ball with a timeout, Malvar drove the paint and hit a jumper in traffic to put the Lumberjacks back on top. NAU's final second defensive stand was successful after Loyola Marymount's potential game-winner fell short.
Loyola Marymount led for the majority of the game after racing out to a 15-4 advantage. The Lumberjacks cut their deficit with a 6-0 run, but despite shooting 46.7 percent in the first quarter, NAU trailed 23-16 going into the second quarter. Loyola Marymount shot 50 percent from the field to start the game.
NAU climbed back to 27-25 three minutes into the second period before Loyola Marymount pushed its lead back out with five consecutive points. Back-to-back layups by Paplow and Orndoff to close the first half sliced Loyola Marymount's halftime lead to 34-33.
The Lumberjacks took their first lead of the game, 37-36, at the 7:46 mark of the third quarter following an Orndoff jumper, but an 11-2 Loyola Marymount run shifted the momentum back in the Lions favor. NAU did not blink though, answering quickly with an 8-0 run in less than two minutes tying the game at 47-47 with under a minute remaining the quarter.
A strong offensive fourth quarter, sparked by eight points from Paplow, combined with a defensive effort that held Loyola Marymount to its worst shooting period proved to be the difference for NAU. NAU shot 53.8 percent in the final 10 minutes while Loyola Marymount shot only 29.4 percent.
Junior
Peyton Carroll helped NAU combat Loyola Marymount's size advantage with six points and four rebounds in 19 critical minutes off the bench.
The 'Jacks also had five blocks to just one by the Lions with sophomore
Khiarica Rasheed tying a career-best with two rejections.
NAU will face SMU in the LMU Thanksgiving Classic championship game on Saturday at 4 p.m. MST. SMU defeated Robert Morris, 60-55, earlier on Friday. The Mustangs are 3-3 on the season.
