FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (January 2, 2019) – The Northern Arizona women's basketball team starts a three-game homestand, and opens 2019, on Thursday with Weber State in the Walkup Skydome at 6:30 p.m. before hosting Idaho State on Saturday at 2 p.m. NAU is looking for its first conference win of the season and aiming to snap a six-game losing streak.
"It's a challenging turnaround for us with four games in eight days," said head coach Loree Payne. "We have to have a short memory and learn from this past road trip. But we also have to have positive energy and bring it home for our first home games of conference."
Like NAU, Weber State is also looking for its first conference win of the season after dropping two on the road, extending its skid to an identical six games as the 'Jacks. Weber State dropped its first two Big Sky games at home by narrow margins. The Wildcats, 3-9 overall, fell to Eastern Washington, 64-58, and Idaho, 79-74.
Idaho State managed a split of its first conference games and are 6-5 overall. The Bengals rebounded from an 86-72 loss to Idaho, which snapped a three-game winning streak, and snagged their first Big Sky victory 63-48 over Eastern Washington at home.
The Lumberjacks opened conference play with losses to Montana, 78-62, and Montana State, 80-70, this past Saturday and Monday to lower their overall mark to 4-7. However, the 'Jacks saw an uptick in offense on their Big Sky opening road trip.
After shooting just 29.1 percent overall and averaging 51.0 points per game in their last four non-conference games, the Lumberjacks shot 39.6 percent and averaged 66.0 points per game against Montana and Montana State. Senior
Kaleigh Paplow and sophomore
Lauren Orndoff led the Lumberjacks with both averaging 15.5 points per game in the first two Big Sky contests. The pair combined to make 10 three-pointers.
Paplow, averaging team-bests of 15.8 points, 7.1 rebounds and 3.5 assists per game, is just 51 points away from becoming the 17th player in program history to reach 1,000 career points. She also continues to be the only player ranked in the top 10 in the league in points, rebound and assists.
Meanwhile, Orndoff posted a career-best 17 points last Saturday versus Montana before following up with 14 points against Montana State on New Year's Eve. Her 31 points are her most in back-to-back games in her career. Orndoff leads the team in both field goal percentage (.459) and three-point percentage (.393), ranking in the top 10 in the Big Sky in both categories.
Orndoff was not the only Lumberjack to set season-best scoring totals on the road trip with redshirt sophomore
Jacey Bailey (13) and junior
Peyton Carroll (11) doing so against Montana State. Freshman
Morgan Gary (10) notched her first career double-digit scoring game versus Montana.
For the season, NAU's scoring average is up to 63.6 points per game. The Lumberjacks are allowing 72.3 per contest.
Thursday will be Military Appreciation Day with fans receiving a complimentary ticket with a military ID. Saturday will be Girl Scouts Day and the team will be hold a free post game autograph session.
This week's games will be available on Pluto TV Channel 239
online and on the free mobile app in addition to
watchbigsky.com.
About Weber State:
Record: 3-9, 0-2 Big Sky
2018-19 Preseason Big Sky Coaches/Media Polls: Eighth/Eighth
All-Time Series: WSU, 47-34
Last Meeting: WSU, 77-63 (Feb. 3, 2018)
About Idaho State:
Record: 6-5, 1-1 Big Sky
2018-19 Preseason Big Sky Coaches/Media Polls: Third/Fourth
All-Time Series: ISU, 42-26
Last Meeting: ISU, 76-59 (Feb. 1, 2018)
