GAME NOTES (PDF)
FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (November 7, 2018) – The Northern Arizona women's basketball team may be embarking on their first road trip of the season, but it will feel a lot like home. On their weekend road trip to the Evergreen State, the Lumberjacks will play in front of a lot of familiar faces – fans and family alike – with games against Seattle on Friday at 6 p.m. MST and Washington on Sunday at 3 p.m. MST.
"We have two really tough opponents with Seattle coming off a WAC championship and NCAA Tournament appearance and of course, turn around and face a Pac-12 team in Washington," said head coach
Loree Payne. "It will be a tough road trip, but we're excited. We have a ton of players with families in the Northwest and most of our coaching staff has big-time roots up there. It will be a fun weekend, but it is definitely a business trip to go get two wins."
The Lumberjacks will be greeted warmly on their road trip to the Pacific Northwest as NAU has a total of seven players on its roster from Oregon and Washington. Two of them – freshmen
Regan Schenck (Woodinville HS) and
Morgan Gary (Kentridge HS) – played their prep ball within an hour from Seattle. Four of NAU's five Oregon natives – redshirt sophomore
Caitlin Malvar and sophomore
Khiarica Rasheed (Portland), junior
Peyton Carroll (Damascus) and sophomore
Lauren Orndoff (Medford) – will make the trip. The Lumberjacks' fifth, sophomore
Nina Radford (Portland) is redshirting this season.
NAU's coaching staff also has deep ties to the state of Washington starting with Payne, who coached seven years at Puget Sound before arriving in Flagstaff. Payne also played her collegiate career at Washington, where she finished her career as the Huskies' seventh-leading scorer with 1,675 career points and all-time leader in three-pointers made with 245. Payne was also an assistant at Washington from 2007-10.
Assistant coach
Brandon Huntley served on Payne's staff at Puget Sound, while assistant coach
Kellee Barney was an assistant at Washington State and was Gonzaga's head coach from 1994-2000.
The Lumberjacks' 2018-19 season got off to a blistering start on Tuesday with an 86-73 win over Fresno State. The victory was only NAU's only third to start a season dating back to 2008. In their season-opening victory, the Lumberjacks drained a school record 15 three pointers and shot 75 percent from behind the arc. Led by Orndoff's four, six different players made multiple three-pointers.
Senior
Kaleigh Paplow led, or tied for the team-lead, the 'Jacks in four categories with 21 points, 12 rebounds, seven assists and three steals. The double-double was Paplow's 11th of her career and the seven helpers tied a career-high. Paplow heads into Friday's contest just three rebounds away from moving into the program's top 10 all-time rebounding list.
Orndoff and Paplow were two of NAU's five starters who all scored in double-digits, along with Rasheed, Schenck and redshirt sophomore
Jacey Bailey.
"One of the biggest things this team is doing is keeping this season in perspective," Payne said. "When we win, we don't want to get too high. When we lose, we don't want to get too low. (Tuesday) was a huge win for our program. Offensively, we didn't show any nerves. This team is confident and resilient and have a swag in them. That's what makes them special."
Seattle, last year's WAC tournament champion, dropped its season-opener on Tuesday, 57-54, to Cal State Fullerton at home. The Redhawks shot just 37.5 percent from the field and particularly struggled from behind the arc, shooting just 3-for-16 on three-point attempts. Despite winning the conference tournament and advancing to the NCAA Tournament, Seattle was picked third in both the WAC preseason polls by the coaches and media.
Washington will open its season on Thursday at home versus Cal State Fullerton before the Huskies host the Lumberjacks on Sunday. The Huskies were picked 12th in the Preseason Pac-12 Coaches Poll following a 7-23 season, 1-17 in the Pac-12.
Live stat and video streaming links for both of this weekend's games can be found above.
About Seattle:
Record: 0-1, 0-0 WAC
2018-19 Preseason WAC Poll: Third
All-Time Series: First Meeting
About Washington:
2017-18 Record: 7-23, 1-17 Pac-12
2018-19 Preseason Pac-12 Poll: 12th
All-Time Series: UW, 2-0
Last Meeting: UW, 83-70 (Nov. 17, 2007)
