GAME NOTES (PDF)
TICKETS
ALUMNI DAY REGISTRATION
FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (February 12, 2019) – Coming off their first conference road sweep since 2005, the Northern Arizona women's basketball team carries momentum into this week's homestand versus Portland State on Thursday at 6:30 p.m. and Sacramento State on Saturday at 2 p.m. in the Walkup Skydome. NAU, now 3-2 over its last five games with all three victories coming on the road, has put itself in position to jockey for seeding in the middle of the Big Sky Conference following last week's road trip.
Thursday's game will be NAU's annual Play4Kay game in support of the Kay Yow Cancer Fund and all fans are encouraged to wear pink for breast cancer awareness. The first 250 fans will also receive free NAU Valentine's Day candy. On Saturday, the team will hold Alumni Day. All former NAU women's basketball players who are interested in joining the team for Alumni Day can register at this
link. There is also a $30 Family JackPack ticket package including four game tickets plus a $20 concession voucher for Saturday's game only.
The 'Jacks are riding a wave of momentum on the heels of an unbeaten road trip through Idaho State (81-77) and Weber State (75-64). The Lumberjacks are now 8-14 overall and 4-9 in conference play. Currently in ninth in the standings, NAU is one win behind Montana and Eastern Washington, both of whom are tied for sixth entering the week.
NAU opens a favorable final stretch to the regular season with five of seven games at home against Portland State, who begins the week with a 17-4 overall mark. The Vikings are currently in fourth in the conference, but is just a single game behind Idaho for first, at 9-3 in league play. Portland State knocked off Sacramento State (74-58) and Northern Colorado (85-66) at home last week.
Sacramento State will then head to the Skydome on Saturday with an 8-12 overall record and 4-8 in conference record. The Hornets lost to Northern Colorado, 71-61, Monday night in addition to their loss to Portland State last week.
NAU fell to Portland State, 72-55, in the Viking Pavilion on Jan. 19. Junior
Peyton Carroll led the Lumberjacks with a career-high 21 points in her home state. The 'Jacks trailed by as much as 25, but trailed by only 13 with four minutes left in the game. Two days earlier, NAU had victory slip away as Sacramento State prevailed, 65-61, at The Nest. Senior
Kaleigh Paplow scored a team-high 19 points and joined the 1,000 point club the first time around against the Hornets.
"At Portland State, we didn't shoot the ball very well," said head coach
Loree Payne. "They sit in their 2-3 zone and we have to be aggressive in attacking the zone. Then we turn around and play Sacramento State and we feel like we had one get away from us there. We felt like we should've had that one on the road, so there's excitement to get that game back."
The Lumberjacks have found their offensive rhythm over their last five games, shooting 40 percent or better from the field in each game. This marks the first five-game stretch with a field goal percentage upwards of 40 percent since NAU opened the 2012-13 season with seven such games. NAU's top six players in the rotation are all averaging double-figure points led by sophomore
Khiarica Rasheed's 12.6 per game in the last five games. Rasheed, redshirt sophomore
Jacey Bailey, Carroll, Paplow, freshman
Regan Schenck and redshirt sophomore
Caitlin Malvar are all averaging at least 10 points per game over the last two weeks.
"We've been shooting the ball a lot better and our team chemistry is developing as we understand how to play with each other," Payne said. "We've finally started to play a little more fluid."
Paplow leads the team with 13.9 points per game, and now resides in ninth all-time in program history with 1,080 points. On her continued ascent up the list, Paplow needs only eight points to climb into seventh. averaging a team-high 14.0 points per game, is just four points shy of moving into 10th all-time in NAU's scoring chart. With nine rebounds, Paplow would also move into third all-time in rebounds in program history. Paplow leads the team, and ranks seventh in the Big Sky, with 7.8 rebounds per game.
Malvar paces the Lumberjacks with 3.4 assists per game and a 1.6 assist-to-turnover ratio. Over the last five games however, Malvar has registered 21 assists and only seven turnovers for an assist-to-turnover ratio of 3.0.
Averaging 73.0 points per game in their last five contests, NAU's season scoring average is up to 66.0 placing the Lumberjacks fifth in the Big Sky. NAU allows 71.9 points per game and is fourth in rebounding with 40.0 boards per game.
Both games this week be shown
online and on the free mobile app on Pluto TV Channel 239 in addition to
watchbigsky.com. Saturday's game will also be shown on NAU-TV and Your Phoenix CW.
About Portland State:
Record: 17-4, 9-3 Big Sky
2018-19 Big Sky Standing: Fourth
All-Time Series: PSU, 25-23
Last Meeting: PSU, 72-55 (Jan. 19, 2019)
About Sacramento State:
Record: 8-12, 4-8 Big Sky
2018-19 Big Sky Standing: Eighth
All-Time Series: NAU, 31-16
Last Meeting: SAC, 65-61 (Jan. 17, 2019)
