FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (December 15, 2020) – After opening the regular season with five consecutive games on the road, the Northern Arizona University women's basketball team will open its 11-game home schedule Thursday evening against the UTEP Miners on Pluto TV Channel 1058 before heading back to Tucson for a meeting with the New Mexico State Aggies on Saturday at noon.
Tipping off at 6 p.m. Thursday night in Rolle Activity Center, the Lumberjacks and Miners will meet for the first time since November 2016 when NAU came away with a 65-51 victory. Entering the game with a 3-2 record overall, 2-0 in the Big Sky, the Lumberjacks will look to bounce back from a 66-58 loss last Wednesday against Grand Canyon. The eight-day break, the longest since the season got underway, followed NAU's stretch of three games in five days after playing the Eastern Washington Eagles on back-to-back days in Cheney, Wash.
Meanwhile, the Miners arrive in Flagstaff having suffered their first loss of the season following a 3-0 start. Holding a pair of overtime victories against New Mexico State and a four-point win against Incarnate Word, UTEP fell to the Utah State Aggies this past Saturday, 68-65. After trailing by as much as 14 in the second half, the Miners rallied to take a 64-63 lead with 46 seconds left. However, after Utah State retook a one-point advantage and UTEP hit just one of two free throws, the Aggies locked up the victory with a layup in the final 30 seconds.
Sophomore Katia Gallegos, a preseason All-Conference USA selection, finished the game with 19 points for the Miners and added five assists and six rebounds. The guard, who landed on the All-Conference USA Freshman Team last season, has scored at least 17 points and produced at least five assists in all four games this season.
"She pushes the tempo really well, so we have to get her slowed in transition. Regan (Schenck) has been playing really well, so I think it's going to be a very fun matchup to be a part of and to watch," said NAU head coach
Loree Payne.
Junior college transfer Destiny Thurman made her UTEP debut against Utah State, scoring 14 points and grabbing five rebounds for the Miners. Senior DajaNae Roebuck is second on the team with 12.0 points per game while hitting 51.4% from the field, and Avery Crouse sits at 9.3 points per game as well.
Just as Grand Canyon did, UTEP ranks among the nation's top 40 in turnovers forced per game this season. Sitting at an average of 21.25 after Utah State committed 23 in its victory, UTEP has also cashed in the free opportunities with 19.5 points off of turnovers across its four games. However, the Miners have taken had trouble with holding onto the ball themselves as they commit 19.5 turnovers per game and have actually been outscored off of their own miscues, with teams reaching 21.25 points per game off of the mistakes.
After forcing Eastern Washington into 47 turnovers across a pair of games, NAU only grabbed 11 from Grand Canyon last week.
"We are going to face a team that is pretty similar to Grand Canyon in that they are athletic, they are going to press us and they are going to mix up their defenses," Payne said. "They actually have a little bit more size all the way around than Grand Canyon did, so we have got to take care of the ball. That's going to be the biggest thing, as well as rebounding. Before they played Utah State, they were almost plus-10 on the boards against their opponents. That's something that has been a hindrance to us, so our two focuses are taking care of the ball and really crashing the boards."
As for Saturday's game against New Mexico State, the unique circumstances of the season led NAU to swapping one game for another on short notice. The game, set to be played at New Mexico State's temporary home of Lead Athletics, will be a unique challenge for the Lumberjacks.
"It was tough. Obviously disappointed that we can't go up to UC Davis. We were looking forward to that game, but we knew there was going to be disruptions and there was going to be game changes," Payne said. "We have been very fortunate up to this point to not have any disruptions. The New Mexico State coach and I had been communicating. I knew they were relocating to Tucson and so for us, geographically that was a good fit. We are trying to play games and we are trying to get our student athletes a relevant season and a season where they can compete."
Through five games, the 1-4 Aggies have been led by senior
Aaliyah Prince's 14.6 points per game in 22.6 minutes on the court. Sophomore Soufia Inoussa's 9.0 points trails only Prince while her 4.4 rebounds per game is tied with Deja Terrell and Nana Sule. Mixing up their lineup early on this season, 11 New Mexico State players average at least 12 minutes per game, though Prince, Inoussa, senior Rodrea Echols and junior Kalei Atkinson have started all five games this year.
Prince earned a place on the 2020-21 Preseason Women's Basketball Coaches' All-WAC First Team after averaging 11.7 points and 3.9 rebounds last season while Inoussa landed the second team after scoring 7.9 points and grabbing 4.3 rebounds in 2019-20.
Senior JJ
Nakai continues to lead the Lumberjacks at 18.2 points per game, with three others also in double-digits so far this season: senior
Jacey Bailey (14.8), sophomore Emily
Rodabaugh (14.4) and senior
Miki'ala Maio (10.0). Junior Regan
Schenck continues to do a bit of everything for the Lumberjacks, averaging 8.8 points per game in addition to a team-best 8.6 rebounds and 5.2 assists.
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