FULL NON-CONFERENCE SCHEDULE
FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (July 17, 2018) – Pac-12 opponents and up to five national postseason teams can be found on the Northern Arizona women's basketball team's 2018 non-conference schedule as announced by head coach
Loree Payne on Tuesday.
"We have an exciting non-conference schedule and it will definitely be challenging," Payne said. "We are going to have a very talented, but pretty young, team so it will be good to have the majority of our games on the road to prepare us for Big Sky play. We are excited to get things going."
NAU will play just three of its nine games before the start of conference in Flagstaff, marking the fewest home non-conference games since the Lumberjacks played three during the 2013-14 season.
However, the 'Jacks will have the opportunity to open Payne's second year at the helm in front of the home fans with their 2018-19 season opener set for Tuesday, Nov. 6 against Fresno State. The Bulldogs are coming off an appearance in the Women's Basketball Invitational.
Following the season opener, NAU will play a pair of games in the Evergreen State to cap the first weekend of the season against Seattle and Washington on Nov. 9 and 11 respectively. While the games will be true road contests, the Lumberjacks are bound to play in front of a number of familiar faces given NAU's seven players from the Pacific Northwest.
Furthermore, Payne and assistant coaches
Brandon Huntley and
Kellee Barney have deep ties to the region. The Nov. 11 game versus the Huskies of the Pac-12 Conference will be a homecoming for Payne. Payne starred for Washington during her collegiate career, playing in two NCAA Tournaments and finishing her career as the Huskies' seventh-leading scorer and all-time leader in three-pointers made.
"We're excited to go up to the Northwest," Payne said. "We have a lot of players from the Northwest on our roster, and it'll have a special meaning for all of us to go up there to play Seattle and UW."
Seattle will make it two consecutive postseason opponents to open the season, as the Redhawks are coming off their first-ever NCAA Tournament appearance after winning the Western Athletic Conference. Meanwhile, Washington is two years removed from the NCAA Sweet 16.
After a brief stop home versus Cal Baptist on Nov. 17, the Lumberjacks will spend Thanksgiving weekend in Los Angeles at Loyola Marymount's Thanksgiving Classic. NAU will face the host in the two-day tournament opener on Nov. 23, and will take on either Robert Morris – a 25-win WNIT team a year ago – or SMU the following day.
Back-to-back WNIT foes from the Mountain West are on deck to start the month of December. On Dec. 5, NAU travels to play Colorado State in Fort Collins, Colo. before its final home non-conference game on Dec. 8 versus New Mexico. Both the Rams (21) and Lobos (25) won more than 20 games last season, including wins in the WNIT.
The 'Jacks will close their non-conference slate in Tucson with a return trip to Arizona on Dec. 21 prior to the holiday break – and Big Sky play. NAU will aim at making it two straight wins over its Pac-12 rival following last season's convincing 84-66 victory in Flagstaff. The Lumberjacks have only beaten the Wildcats in consecutive meetings once before in program history (1977-78).
NAU's Big Sky schedule will be released at a later date.
