LAHAINA, Hawaii (December 18, 2019) – The Northern Arizona women's basketball team put together their most complete 40 minute-effort of the season Wednesday night against No. 4 Oregon State, but the Beavers' massive rebounding advantage was a difference-maker in a 91-57 loss. The Lumberjacks fell to 2-6 overall with the loss in their first of two games at the Maui Jim Maui Classic.
"I don't feel like we had a bad quarter; it's been a little bit of a trend where we play really good for three quarters and then have a quarter where we score six points or give up 25," said head coach
Loree Payne. "I felt we played a solid 40 minutes and we need to have the mindset coming into every game like we're playing Oregon State. If we do that, this team can go really far because we're so close to putting it together."
Facing their first nationally-ranked opponent since 2012 and first top five opponent since 1996, NAU rebounded from a slow start that saw the 'Jacks immediately trail 10-0 in the first two-plus minutes of the game. After redshirt sophomore
Nina Radford broke the seal on the offensive end with NAU's first bucket, the Lumberjacks settled into the game and played Oregon State even the rest of the opening quarter.
Oregon State only outscored NAU, 11-10, in the final seven and a half minutes of the opening quarter before extending its 21-10 advantage out to 49-27 going into halftime.
Behind a starting frontcourt tandem standing at 6-6 and 6-4, the Beavers dominated the glass with a 54-20 advantage. In particular, Oregon State grabbed 17 offensive rebounds, which helped the Beavers hold an 18-2 advantage in second chance points.
However, the Lumberjacks did improve in the second half on the glass. After allowing 14 offensive rebounds in the first half – leading to a 15-0 Oregon State margin in second chance points – NAU only surrendered three offensive rebounds and three second chance points after halftime.
"Oregon State is number four in the country for a reason and they're incredibly talented," Payne said. "They crushed on the boards and at the end of the day, that was the difference because they had way more possessions because of their rebounding. You can't become 6-6, but you can make an effort to box out. We started to do that, but it was a little too late."
Redshirt junior
Jacey Bailey led the 'Jacks with 10 points on the night with senior
Peyton Carroll chipping in nine points off the bench. Junior
Khiarica Rasheed and graduate student
Molly Rohrer both added eight points with Rohrer's total being a season-best.
NAU shot 39.1 percent from the field while Oregon State shot 52.8 percent. Outside the boards, the Lumberjacks did hold a plus-seven margin in the turnover column. NAU committed a season-low eight turnovers and recorded nine steals.
With a 49-27 halftime lead in hand, Oregon State stretched its lead out to as much as 36 in the second half as the Beavers, an NCAA Sweet 16 team a season ago, led wire-to-wire.
"We got some great looks in the first quarter, but it's tough because there is a little bit of an intimidation factor," Payne said. "We just didn't knock them down, but we battled. We showed a lot of really good things tonight especially our eight turnovers because turnovers have plagued us."
NAU will take on San Jose State in its final non-conference game, and last game in Lahaina, on Thursday. Tip-off in the Lahaina Civic Center between the 'Jacks and Spartans, who fell to BYU, 75-56 on Wednesday in the Maui Classic opener, is slated for 8:30 p.m. MST.
