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FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (March 8, 2019) – Seniors
Kaleigh Paplow and
Tate Tsingine will put on the home whites in front of the Lumberjack fans in the Walkup Skydome on Saturday for the final time as the Northern Arizona women's basketball team concludes the regular season with Senior Day versus Northern Colorado at 2 p.m.
Paplow is wrapping up a four-year career that will go down statistically as one of the greatest in program history. Currently ranked sixth all-time in points (1,159), third in rebounds (744), 10th in assists (270), 10th in steals (158) and fifth in minutes played (3,374), Paplow is the only player to reside in the top 10 in all five categories. Paplow also ranks seventh in both career field goals made (429) and free throws made (259).
Tsingine has appeared in 40 games over her two seasons at NAU after transferring in from Central Arizona College. Tsingine made six starts and shot 35.7 percent from behind the arc last season. For her career, she is a 33.0 percent three-point shooter and has shot 83.3 percent at the free throw line while averaging 3.1 points per game.
The 'Jacks head into their regular season finale before traveling to Boise for the Big Sky Championship with an 11-17 overall record and 7-12 conference mark. NAU swept Montana State, 76-72, and Montana, 82-65, last week at home. NAU, winner of its last three home games, is locked into the eighth-seed in Monday's first round of the conference tournament where it will face Sacramento State.
"It's been a great last couple of weeks for us," said head coach
Loree Payne. "We knew we were going to be a good position being at home for five of our last seven games and we've really started to find our rhythm offensively. We're excited about how we're playing right now and we're taking it one day at a time, one game at a time to see if we can get some momentum going into the tournament."
Before that, the Lumberjacks will welcome in the defending Big Sky Champions into the Skydome on Saturday. Northern Colorado carries a five-game winning streak and has secured no worse than the second-seed in the Big Sky tourney. The Bears defeated Southern Utah at home on Thursday, 88-71, to improve to 20-8 overall and 15-4 in conference play. Northern Colorado knocked off NAU, 63-53, in the teams' first meeting of the season on Jan. 26.
"When we went up (to Greeley) to play Northern Colorado, I felt like we put together a really good effort," Payne said. "That was a turning point in our season where we started to play a little better. It was a two-point game with four minutes to go and (Northern Colorado) stepped up."
While Paplow leads the Lumberjacks, and ranks ninth in the conference, in scoring for the season at 13.7 per game, redshirt sophomore
Jacey Bailey carried the 'Jacks last week averaging 27.5 points on 60 percent overall shooting and 63.2 percent three-point shooting versus Montana State and Montana. Bailey scored a season-best 31 points in this past Monday's victory over Montana to up her season scoring average to 11.3 points per game. Over her last eight games, Bailey is averaging 17.5 points per game with four 20-point performances. She is shooting 51.5 percent in that span, including a 45.6 percent clip from long distance.
In that same eight-game stretch in which NAU has gone 5-3, sophomore
Khiarica Rasheed has also been effective averaging 15.9 points per game. Rasheed is averaging 12.4 points per game overall.
In conference play, NAU is the fourth-highest scoring team in the Big Sky with 69.5 points per game. The Lumberjacks are also shooting 41.5 percent from the field having eclipsed the 40 percent mark in 10 of their last 11 games. For the season, NAU is averaging 67.5 points per game. The Lumberjacks are allowing 72.6 on average.
The first 100 students will receive a white NAU bucket hat on Saturday.
Saturday's NAU-TV broadcast will be available on Pluto TV Channel 239
online and on the free mobile app in addition to
watchbigsky.com.
About Northern Colorado:
Record: 20-8, 15-4 Big Sky
2018-19 Big Sky Standing: Second
All-Time Series: UNC, 22-5
Last Meeting: UNC, 63-53 (Jan. 26, 2019)
