FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (March 2, 2020) – With just one game until the Big Sky Tournament, the Northern Arizona women's basketball team concludes the regular season on Wednesday versus Portland State at 6:30 p.m. in the Walkup Skydome. The Lumberjacks will recognize four players –
Peyton Carroll,
Brianna Lehew,
Seneca Richards and
Molly Rohrer – prior to Wednesday's Senior Night.
Carroll and Lehew have spent four seasons with the Lumberjacks, while Richards and Rohrer were grad transfers to NAU. Carroll and Lehew have played in 96 and 80 games respectively throughout their careers at NAU. Carroll holds career averages of 5.1 points and 2.7 rebounds per game, while Lehew has averaged 2.4 points and 2.2 rebounds and totaled 37 career blocks. Rohrer and Richards have played in a combined 17 games in their only seasons as a Lumberjack this season after transferring from CSU-Pueblo and LIU Brooklyn respectively.
"Bri and Peyton went through the transition in coaching staffs and their development on the court have been tremendous having seen where they were when we first got here and where they are now," said head coach
Loree Payne. "We had Molly and Seneca join our program for a short time, but they've both been great additions. Molly and Peyton will do awesome things in this world once their eligibility is up. For Bri and Seneca, they're foregoing their last years of eligibility to pursue some awesome opportunities. We're excited to celebrate them and we can't wait to see what they can help provide us going into this last weekend and into Boise."
Coming off two road losses to Montana, 70-57, and Montana State, 73-71, last week, NAU (15-13, 12-7 Big Sky) can clinch a bye in next week's conference tournament with a win versus Portland State and a Southern Utah loss to Montana State on Wednesday.
"We played well, especially on Saturday against Montana State," Payne said. "We went cold against Montana, which hurt us, and we had our opportunities against Montana State, but there's a reason why they've only lost one conference game. When we play the way we're capable of, we can play with anyone and beat anyone. We have a great opportunity to bounce back and we've got Portland State coming in here who have been up and down a little bit. It'll be a great opportunity to get back on track before next week."
The Lumberjacks' tournament seeding will not be decided until Friday's conference games are completed. NAU could finish as high as second and as low as sixth depending on this week's results. NAU has just one game this week with all other schools, with the exception of Sacramento State, having two games remaining.
Junior
Khiarica Rasheed and redshirt junior
Jacey Bailey lead the Lumberjacks in scoring with 16.8 points and 14.4 points per game respectively. Rasheed and Bailey are second and third in the conference overall this season respectively.
On NAU's all-time single season lists, Rasheed is ninth in points (470), 10th in field goals made (170) and tied for fifth in free throws made (115). Bailey is fourth in three-pointers made (67) and redshirt junior
Caitlin Malvar, currently with 130 assists, will move into the top 10 in that category with two on Wednesday.
The 'Jacks will look to snap a nine-game losing streak – their longest active skid versus a conference opponent – to Portland State. NAU fell to Portland State, 66-54, on Jan. 25 and has not posted a victory over the Vikings since 2015.
Portland State is 13-15 overall and in seventh in the conference standings at 7-11 in Big Sky play. The Vikings' 88-63 win over Weber State last Saturday snapped a seven-game losing streak dating back to their win over the 'Jacks in January.
Wednesday's game will be streamed on Pluto TV Channel 539
online and on the Pluto TV app. Live stats will be available at this
link.
Fans can tickets for Wednesday's Senior Night online at
nauathletics.com/tickets or by calling the Lumberjack Ticket Office at 928-523-0639.
About Portland State:
Record: 13-15, 7-11 Big Sky
All-Time Series: PSU, 27-23
Last Meeting: PSU, 66-54 (Jan. 25, 2020)
