BOISE, Idaho (March 11, 2020) – The Northern Arizona women's basketball team chased Montana State for the final 25 minutes of Wednesday's Big Sky semifinal but never could completely catch up in a tournament-ending 76-71 loss to the regular season champions. The fifth-seeded Lumberjacks pushed the top-seeded Bobcats to the final seconds as they leave Boise with a 16-15 record.
"I'm super proud of our team; they never gave up tonight," said head coach
Loree Payne. "Even when (Montana State) pushed it to nine or 10, we kept grinding. At the end of the day, I don't feel like we played the best that we could play and to beat a team like Montana State, you have to be on your game for four quarters. We had to play better, but kudos to Montana State."
NAU led for much of the first 13 minutes, but turnovers proved to be their downfall for the entire game and especially in the second quarter. Nine of NAU's 20 turnovers occurred in the second quarter with Montana State turning those into eight points. As a result, the Lumberjacks' 17-14 first quarter lead quickly turned into a 35-28 halftime deficit that they could not completely overcome.
Turnovers were a crucial decider as NAU committed 20 compared to Montana State's seven. The Bobcats outscored the 'Jacks, 22-6, off turnovers over the course of the game and also outscored NAU by 10 in the paint and 10 on second chance opportunities.
Still, NAU had a chance late as the Lumberjacks showed resolve down the stretch. After a 6-0 run pushed the Bobcats' lead to a game-high 10 points, 65-55, with 6:50 remaining, the Lumberjacks trimmed four points off the deficit to 67-61 with 4:12 left.
Junior
Lauren Orndoff converted a tough three-point play with 1:39 remaining, bringing the 'Jacks within 74-71. Redshirt junior
Jacey Bailey stole a Bobcat pass on the ensuing possession, but NAU missed on the other end. The Lumberjacks then got a defensive stop, which once again gave them possession with 18 seconds remaining and a chance to tie the game.
However, NAU turned it over on the inbounds pass. Montana State connected on two free throws with 13 seconds remaining – making it a two-possession game – and NAU missed two shots on its final possession of the game.
"We dug down on the defensive end and got big time stops," Payne said. "Offensively, we hit some shots and we were a little more aggressive. But we needed to have that mentality in the first half. It was a physical game back and forth and we didn't respond very well to that."
Redshirt sophomore
Nina Radford led the Lumberjacks with 21 points on an effective shooting night that included her going 9-for-14 from the field and 3-of-4 from behind the arc. Orndoff scored 14 points and junior
Khiarica Rasheed added 13 points, which moved her into fourth all-time on NAU's single-season scoring list.
Off the bench, sophomore
Regan Schenck posted her third double-digit scoring game with 10 points.
The first quarter alone had four ties and three lead changes, but it was the Lumberjacks who held the lead at the end of the opening period, 17-14, behind seven points from Radford and five from Schenck.
NAU led 20-16 following Schenck's second three-pointer of the evening just over a minute into the second quarter, but that would be NAU's last lead of the game. Montana State's 8-0 run, during which NAU committed five turnovers, pushed the Bobcats ahead for good as the Lumberjacks endured a scoring drought of more than four minutes.
The 'Jacks wound up going into halftime down, 35-28, and they chopped three points off that deficit in the third quarter as they shot 69.2 percent from the deck in the period. The Bobcats led by as much as nine before the Lumberjacks got consecutive baskets by redshirt junior
Caitlin Malvar and Radford to end the quarter, cutting Montana State's lead to 55-51.
NAU only got as close as three on Orndoff's three-point play in the fourth period.
"We were excited to play them for a third time," said Malvar, who recorded nine points, eight rebounds and four assists. "Coming into the game, we knew we were the better team. Unfortunately tonight, it didn't pan out."
The Lumberjacks actually outshot the Bobcats, 47.4 percent to 41.4 percent, and outrebounded them by a 36-33 margin. In the second half, NAU shot 57.1 percent but Montana State, who extended its winning streak to 17 games, shot 48.6 percent after halftime to stave off the 'Jacks.
NAU will now await its fate for a possible invitation to either the WNIT or WBI. Should the Lumberjacks get an invite, it would be just the program's second-ever postseason appearance.
