MOSCOW, Idaho (February 1, 2020) – Junior
Lauren Orndoff's game-winning three-pointer with 7.4 seconds remaining propelled the Northern Arizona women's basketball team to a 71-70 victory over Idaho on Saturday, while handing the Vandals their first home loss in seven games. The victory upped NAU's record above the .500 mark for the first time this season at 10-9 overall and more importantly improved its conference record to 7-3.
"I'm super proud of the team," said head coach
Loree Payne. "We led for the majority of the game and although we didn't start out strong, once we got flowing we maintained the four-to-eight point lead for most of the game. The play that we drew up (at the end of the game) broke down a bit, but Caitlin drove in and kicked it (Lauren) who was wide open. Lo is a silent assassin and she knocked down the biggest shot of her career."
The Lumberjacks led by five, 68-63, with two minutes remaining before the Vandals – the defending regular season conference champions – surged ahead with a 7-0 run. The last six points came on three-pointers by Gina Marxen, putting Idaho in front, 70-68, with 16.6 seconds left.
After an offensive foul spoiled NAU's ensuing possession, the 'Jacks caught a break with the Vandals missing both free throws on the other end. That set up NAU's final possession down two with 12.3 seconds. Redshirt junior
Caitlin Malvar drew the defense on the drive before kicking it out to Orndoff, who drained her only three-point attempt of the game to put the Lumberjacks back in front, 71-70.
"(Idaho) was sagging on me because they were looking at Khia," Orndoff said. "I was left open and I didn't think about it. I shot it with confidence and it went in. Idaho is one of the top contenders and we had to come out and get this win. We did it together."
Without a timeout, Idaho sprinted the length of the court, but Marxen's drive to the rim was turned back by junior
Khiarica Rasheed, who recorded her career-high third block on the play. The Vandals had one final shot with 1.5 seconds on the clock, but it went off the side of the glass as the Lumberjacks ended the Vandals' five-game winning streak.
The Lumberjacks shot 44.4 percent against the Big Sky's top defensive team in scoring defense and opponent field goal percentage. NAU particularly did damage from the perimeter where it drained 10-of-15 three-point attempts (66.7 percent). Idaho's opponents were only shooting 26.8 percent from behind the arc entering the game.
Malvar shouldered the offensive load tying a career-high with four treys made on her way to a career-best 18 points. Redshirt junior
Jacey Bailey also drained three triples in a 13-point effort. Junior
Khiarica Rasheed added 11 points and a team-high seven rebounds and sophomore
Morgan Gary tied a career-high with 10 points off the bench.
Idaho shot just 39.7 percent as NAU held its opponent under 40 percent shooting for the fourth consecutive game. The Lumberjacks also outrebounded the Vandals by a 39-35 margin.
The Vandals quickly jumped out to a 7-0 lead and led 9-3 before consecutive threes by Bailey and sophomore
Regan Schenck tied the score at 9-9. The threes were just the start of a 14-0 run that gave the Lumberjacks a 17-9 advantage.
Back-to-back buckets by Gary provided the 'Jacks with their largest lead of the game, 28-18, midway through the second quarter, but the Vandals evened the score at 33-33. The score did not remain tied for long as redshirt sophomore
Nina Radford beat the first half horn with a basket putting NAU back in front, 35-33, at halftime.
A 7-0 NAU run extended the Lumberjacks' advantage out to eight points early in the third quarter only for the Vandals to once again close the period strong as a late three-pointer tied the score at 53-53 heading into the final 10 minutes.
The lead exchanged hands five times in the fourth quarter alone. Tied at 61-61, NAU scored seven of the next nine points capped by a Rasheed and-1 with 2:08 left to make it a 68-63 game. As it turned out, the game was far from over with Orndoff's late-game heroics sealing up NAU's seventh win in its last eight games.
"I talked before the game about needing a statement win and this was the start of one," Payne said. "Hopefully it'll continue our momentum going into Eastern Washington and through Big Sky play."
NAU heads to Eastern Washington on Monday for a 7 p.m. MST tip-off in Cheney, Wash. to finally close a stretch of four consecutive road games.
