| Northern Arizona vs. Idaho |
FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (December 29, 2020) – Following their longest mid-season layoff since the 1988 season, the Northern Arizona women's basketball team returns to Big Sky Conference play against one of the preseason favorites this weekend in Flagstaff.
Both games will be available on Pluto TV Channel 1058 as the Lumberjacks look to extend their winning streak over the Idaho Vandals and remain perfect in the Big Sky this season. A year ago, NAU came away with a pair of dramatic victories against Idaho. Facing off twice in February, the Lumberjacks first beat the Vandals 71-70 in Moscow thanks to a three-pointer by
Lauren Orndoff with just seven seconds remaining in the game. Two weeks later in Flagstaff, the two schools went to double overtime with
Khiarica Rasheed connecting on a go-ahead three-pointer to break a tie before clinching the victory with a pair of free throws.
"I think it has become a big rivalry the last two years and it is something our kids are really looking forward to," said NAU head coach
Loree Payne. "Our schedule is a little bit tough, we start out with Idaho at home and then travel to play Idaho State, the two teams that were tied for first. So back-to-back tough weekends, but I think any weekend in the Big Sky is tough."
While NAU (4-2, 2-0 Big Sky) enters the game having last played on Dec. 17 when it defeated the UTEP Miners 83-75, Idaho (3-3, 2-0 Big Sky) is coming off of a 96-42 loss on Dec. 23 in Tucson to the No. 6/7 Arizona Wildcats. Arizona is the lone common opponent between the sides this season, with NAU falling to 76-63 on Nov. 29. While the Vandals struggled against the nationally-ranked Wildcats, they did outlast the Seattle Redhawks 105-96 on Dec. 21. Sophomore Beyonce Bea put up a career-high 33 points in addition to seven rebounds and four blocks, while junior Gina Marxen added 23 points, seven rebounds and four assists. Freshman Paris Atchley also scored a career high with 26 points and finished 15-of-18 from the free-throw line in the victory.
Both Marxen and Bea earned All-Big Sky Conference selections a year ago, as the former landed on the first team and the latter on the third team respectively. Both were also named to the Big Sky's Preseason All-Conference Team alongside Rasheed, who earned preseason MVP honors from the conference.
"Beyonce and Gina are both really great players, we recruited them both. They are definitely some of the top players in the Big Sky Conference," Payne said. "I think it has hurt them the past few games, their starting post player went down, so they kind of had to play a little more of a five-out which is similar to what we have had to do when Khia was out."
Bea leads a group of five Vandals averaging double-digit points through the team's first six games, sitting at 16.3 points per contest. Marxen's 13.2 points sits third on the team while also averaging 4.67 assists per game, tying NAU's
Regan Schenck for first in the category among Big Sky players. Montana graduate transfer Gabi Harrington is second on the Vandals with 14.0 points in her two games this season, but has not played since Dec. 5 against Sacramento State. Similarly, leading rebounder Natalie Klinker missed the past two contests after averaging 6.8 points and 11.5 boards in four games. Atchley started the past two games for the Vandals, with fellow freshman Sydney Gandy averaging 12.3 points per game in six starts this year.
In the two meetings last season, Marxen reached the 20-point mark while combining to hit 8-of-21 from three-point range. Bea struggled to find similar success during her freshman season, averaging 7.0 points, 2.5 rebounds and 2.5 assists while hitting just 23.8 percent from the field in the two games against NAU. While playing for Montana, Harrington finished with a career-high 12 rebounds in a double-double effort to open the Big Sky schedule last December.
For the Lumberjacks, both Rasheed and senior
Jacey Bailey averaged 16.0 points against the Vandals last season. Bailey connected on 6-of-12 from three-point range in the two games combined while also adding 14 total rebounds. Rasheed hit 9-of-10 from the free-throw line in the second meeting while combining for 18 rebounds in the two games.
"I think we match up really, really well with them," Payne said. "I think it'll be a really fun game, I think it will be a high-scoring game. I think you'll see a lot of transition, as much as we can coming off of the holidays and a little bit of a break."
JJ Nakai leads a group of four women scoring double-digits for the Lumberjacks as she ranks third in the Big Sky at 18.5 points per game through her first six games as a Lumberjack. Bailey and sophomore
Emily Rodabaugh are tied for second on the Lumberjacks at 14.3 points per game, with senior
Miki'ala Maio fourth at 10.8 points. While Schenck is just outside the 10-point mark at an average of 9.2, the junior guard leads the team with 8.5 rebounds and the aforementioned 4.67 assists. Schenck would rank just outside the nation's top 100 in field goal percentage if she met the qualifications, and enters the meeting with Idaho shooting 60.7 percent from two-point range.
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