FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (February 19, 2019) – Before concluding the regular season with three consecutive games at home, the Northern Arizona women's basketball team hits the road to the Northwest for the final time before the conference tournament this week. NAU's road trip begins Thursday night at 7 p.m. MST against Idaho before the Lumberjacks make the short trek to Eastern Washington for a 3 p.m. MST Saturday afternoon affair.
"Both Idaho and Eastern Washington have been playing well and they both play well at home," said head coach
Loree Payne. "Eastern has won some games of late and Idaho is a veteran group that can shoot the ball. We're going to have to play our best basketball to get a couple of wins this weekend."
Having won four of their last seven games, including a 71-69 victory of the buzzer-beating variety over Sacramento State last Saturday, the Lumberjacks are currently tied in the win column with the Hornets for eighth place in the Big Sky with five games remaining. NAU is just one win behind Eastern Washington for seventh and two wins behind Montana for sixth. The Lumberjacks host the Lady Griz in Flagstaff on March 4.
Idaho starts the week tied for first in the conference with Portland State at 11-3 in conference play, a half game ahead of both Idaho State and Northern Colorado. The Vandals – 14-9 overall – bested Eastern Washington, 75-74, on Monday. Idaho lost to Northern Colorado, 77-72, on Saturday to begin its road trip.
Meanwhile, Eastern Washington's heartbreaking loss to Idaho snapped a brief two-game win streak which included an impressive 76-72 road victory over Northern Colorado last Thursday. The Eagles are 7-16 overall and 6-8 in conference.
The 'Jacks split their homestand last week, rebounding with their win over the Hornets after falling the Portland State, 74-59, last Thursday. NAU overcame an 11-point second half deficit to defeat Sacramento State on senior
Kaleigh Paplow's game-winner with 0.7 seconds left. Paplow, averaging a team-leading 13.7 points per game, finished Saturday's contest with 21 points.
"There's still huge room for growth as there always is, and the challenge is the shorter rotation we're running," Payne said. "We're trying to keep them fresh, but we want to still want to play the style we want to play. There's a balance there that we're trying to navigate through."
With eight points, Paplow will move into sixth all-time in program history in scoring surpassing Sade Cunningham. On Saturday, Paplow took over third place in NAU's all-time rebounding list. Paplow ranks seventh in the conference with 7.7 boards per game.
Sophomore
Khiarica Rasheed has scored in double-figures in her last four games and 10 of her last 12 overall. Rasheed is averaging 12.1 points per game for the season and is 10th in the Big Sky in field goal percentage (.449).
Redshirt sophomore
Caitlin Malvar ranks fourth in the Big Sky in assist-to-turnover ratio at 1.7. Malvar is also shooting a team-best 40.6 percent from three-point range, ranking her sixth in the conference, and leads the team with 3.4 assists per game.
The Lumberjacks have shot 40 percent or better in six of their last seven games. NAU is shooting 38.9 percent overall for the season and ranks fifth in the Big Sky with a scoring average of 66.0 points per game. The Lumberjacks are allowing 71.8 points per game.
This week's games will be available on Pluto TV Channels 242 and 234 on Thursday and Saturday respectively. Pluto TV is available
online and on the free mobile app and both games will also be streamed on
watchbigsky.com.
About Idaho:
Record: 14-9, 11-3 Big Sky
2018-19 Big Sky Standing: Tied for First
All-Time Series: UI, 19-9
Last Meeting: UI, 86-69 (Jan. 31, 2019)
About Eastern Washington:
Record: 7-16, 6-8 Big Sky
2018-19 Big Sky Standing: Seventh
All-Time Series: EWU, 40-26
Last Meeting: EWU, 64-62 (Feb. 2, 2019)
