FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (November 7, 2019) – Ready to open the 2019-20 season, the Northern Arizona women's basketball team heads east on I-40 to Albuquerque where the Lumberjacks will take on New Mexico at the Dreamstyle Arena – The Pit on Friday. The Lumberjacks' opening tip-off to the season is 7 p.m. MST.
"We're headed into a tough environment for opening night and they played on Tuesday, so they have the opening jitters out of the way," said head coach
Loree Payne. "But we're excited and we feel like we match up pretty well with them. We feel like if we play well, we absolutely can compete with them. It's exciting to finally get out and play someone else besides our scout guys and scrimmaging each other."
The Lumberjacks and Lobos will meet for the second consecutive season. Last season in the Walkup Skydome, New Mexico earned an 84-55 victory, which marked the Lobos' seventh consecutive win over the Lumberjacks. NAU last defeated New Mexico, 73-70, on Jan. 1, 1996 and the Lumberjacks have only notched one win in Albuquerque in 1995 in 16 all-time visits.
NAU was picked eighth in both the Big Sky Preseason Coaches and Media Polls after finishing eighth last season. The Lumberjacks return 12 players, including redshirts, from last season's team that posted a 13-18 overall record and an 8-12 mark in league play.
Despite losing one of the program's all-time greats,
Kaleigh Paplow, the 'Jacks return four starters in junior Khiairca Rasheed, redshirt juniors
Jacey Bailey and
Caitlin Malvar and sophomore
Regan Schenck. The four Lumberjacks combined to start 100 games last season.
Rasheed is NAU's leading returning scorer and rebounder with 12.8 points and 6.3 rebounds per game. Bailey averaged 11.5 points per game and led the team with 50 three-pointers, while Malvar led the Lumberjacks with 102 assists and Schenck averaged 7.9 points per game as a true freshman.
Also returning for the 'Jacks are junior
Lauren Orndoff, who started all 14 games she appeared in last season prior to encountering a season-ending medical issue, and senior
Peyton Carroll, who started 10 games and appeared in all 31. Orndoff was in the midst of a breakout season, averaging 10.1 points per game and shooting 42.5 percent behind the arc. Carroll averaged 6.7 points per game and shot a team-high 45.8 percent from the field.
NAU's depth will be a key component to its success this season as the Lumberjacks have all 15 players eligible on the roster for the first time in Payne's tenure as head coach. The Lumberjacks are hoping to receive boosts from graduate student
Molly Rohrer and redshirt sophomore
Nina Radford, who are both eligible this season, after redshirting last season as transfers. Rohrer, a two-time RMAC Player of the Year at CSU-Pueblo, is expected to provide a big presence in the post while Radford, a transfer from UC Santa Barbara, adds another scoring option to the roster.
"We're still undecided on some lineups and different rotations, but that's a good problem to have because we have a lot of options," Payne said. "New Mexico is incredibly athletic, so that matchup will be a little challenging at some spots, but I think it will be a very exciting weekend for us."
While Friday's matchup will be NAU's season opener, New Mexico is already 1-0 this season following an 80-70 victory over UC Riverside at home on Tuesday. The Lobos, who were picked second in the preseason Mountain West Conference poll coming off a WNIT appearance, also played a pair of exhibition games earning wins against Colorado-Colorado Springs, 103-54, and Eastern New Mexico, 99-56.
Friday's season opener will be streamed online for free at this
link and live stats will be available
here.
About New Mexico:
Record: 1-0, 0-0 Mountain West
All-Time Series: UNM, 21-6
Last Meeting: UNM, 84-55 (Dec. 8, 2018)
