FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (February 5, 2019) – The Northern Arizona women's basketball team heads out on their second-to-final road trip of the regular season this week starting with conference-leading Idaho State on Thursday at 7 p.m. in Pocatello, Idaho. NAU will then make the short trip to Ogden, Utah to take on Weber State on Saturday at 2 p.m.
Last week, the Lumberjacks dropped both of their games on their homestand. After NAU lost to Idaho, 86-69, on Thursday, the Lumberjacks fell to Eastern Washington, 64-62, on Saturday. Just past the halfway point of conference, NAU is 6-14 overall and 2-9 in conference play. Although the 'Jacks currently reside in 10th in the conference standings, the Lumberjacks are just two wins out of seventh with nine regular season games remaining before the conference tournament.
"We're excited to get back out on the road," said head coach
Loree Payne. "Going through the second half of conference, it gets a little easier to scout and obviously we've already played both Idaho State and Weber State once this season. There's been a lot of mix-up in the conference with teams beating each other at the top and the bottom, so it's going to be an exciting second half of conference."
Idaho State is tied with Northern Colorado atop the Big Sky standings at 9-2 in league play. The Bengals, winners of their last four games including 56-42 over Sacramento State and 58-57 over Portland State last week on the road, are 14-6 overall.
Weber State finds itself on the opposite end of the standings in 11th at 4-17 overall and 1-10 in the conference. The Wildcats suffered road losses to Portland State (65-38) and Sacramento State (77-62) last week.
NAU will be facing Idaho State and Weber State for the second time this season, having met in the Walkup Skydome during the first week of January. Idaho State came away with an 80-69 win over NAU on Jan. 5 despite NAU having five players score in double-figures led by sophomore
Lauren Orndoff's 16. NAU dispatched Weber State two nights earlier, 74-64, behind a season-best 24 points from redshirt sophomore
Jacey Bailey in a double-double performance.
"Idaho State is a tough team to play at home, but I feel we match up pretty well with them," Payne said. "They're rotating about seven players as well, so it's going to come down to who can outwork who and put together 40 minutes. Turning around to play Weber State, we beat them at home so they're going to be out to get us. That's a big game to get a sweep so we can secure that position above them (in the standings)."
Senior
Kaleigh Paplow begins the week needing 11 points to move into NAU's all-time top 10 scoring list. When she does so, she will join Amy Patton, Alyssa Wahl and Peggy Kennedy as players who rank in the top 10 in points and rebounds. Paplow is currently fourth in program history in career rebounds. She remains on pace to become the first player to rank in the top 10 in program history in points, rebounds, assists and steals by season's end. Entering the week, Paplow ranks ninth in the league in scoring with 14.4 points per game, seventh in rebounding with 7.7 per game and ninth in steals with 1.7 per game. She also continues to lead the team in assists at 3.4 per game.
Junior
Peyton Carroll joined Paplow in double-figures in both games last week. Carroll, now up to 7.6 points per game for the season, currently ranks fifth in the Big Sky in field goal percentage at 48.1. Bailey nearly posted her third double-double of the season versus Eastern Washington on Saturday finishing with team-bests of 15 points and nine rebounds. Bailey is averaging 8.8 points and 5.3 rebounds per game this season. Carroll has scored in double-figures in eight of the last 10 games, while Bailey has reached double-digits in six of the last 10.
Freshman
Regan Schenck also recorded back-to-back double-digit scoring games last week for the second time this season. She netted 11 points each versus Southern Utah and Idaho.
The Lumberjacks are averaging 64.8 points per game and allowing 72.0 points per game overall this season.
Thursday's game will be available on Pluto TV Channel 243, while Saturday's game will be shown on Pluto TV Channel 235
online and on the free mobile app in addition to
watchbigsky.com.
About Idaho State:
Record: 14-6, 9-2 Big Sky
2018-19 Big Sky Standing: Tied for First
All-Time Series: ISU, 43-26
Last Meeting: ISU, 80-69 (Jan. 5, 2019)
About Weber State:
Record: 4-17, 1-10 Big Sky
2018-19 Big Sky Standing: 11th
All-Time Series: WSU, 47-35
Last Meeting: NAU, 74-64 (Jan. 3, 2019)
