FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (November 18, 2021) – Fresh off one rematch from the 2020-21 season, the Northern Arizona Lumberjacks (1-2, 0-0 Big Sky) head off to Texas for another.
This time, it'll be the UTEP Miners (3-0, 0-0 CUSA) with the Lumberjacks making the return trip to El Paso following an 85-73 victory in Flagstaff last December. Similar to Northern Arizona, and many programs around the nation, UTEP enters the season with a relatively familiar rotation.
Four starters, Elina Arike, Avery Crouse, Katia Gallegos and Destiny Thurman, returned for the Miners with three from the group leading UTEP in minutes played. Gallegos, an All-Conference USA First Team selection last season, leads the way with 14.0 points, 5.7 assists and 3.0 steals this season in 33.3 minutes per game.
Thurman leads the Miners at 15.3 points per game in addition to 3.3 assists and 3.3 rebounds. UTEP's other leading returner, Crouse, sits at 9.0 points, 4.0 rebounds and 2.0 assists.
Teal Battle, a graduate transfer from Little Rock, is UTEP's lone newcomer to the starting lineup and enters the game at 8.7 points and 5.0 rebounds this season. Both numbers are similar to Arike who averages 8.3 points and 7.3 rebounds in her second season for the Miners.
While the Lumberjacks led for roughly 80 percent of last year's game, the margin remained just a few possessions until the final minutes. The Lumberjacks took their first double-digit lead with 3:02 remaining in the fourth quarter and led by a game-high of 12 only after producing a 13-2 run after the Miners cut the lead to 66-65 with 6:46 to go.
A pair of baskets by
Regan Schenck put the Lumberjacks back up by five before
Miki'ala Maio eventually wrapped up the stretch with a pair of free throws as the clock approached the final two minutes.
Hitting 52.6 percent from the field as a team, Northern Arizona produced what would go one to be its second-best shooting game of the season against UTEP. Five Lumberjacks reached double-digits, excluding
Khiarica Rasheed who scored six points in just 15 minutes as she worked her way back from an injury.
Most impressively, Northern Arizona's 19 assists included six players with at least two as nearly two-thirds of their made baskets came off one. Maio,
Emily Rodabaugh and Schenck all hit at least 66 percent from the field while scoring 14, 14 and 11 points, respectively.
Through three games this season, just Rasheed and
Nina Radford average double-digits with 16.3 and 11.3 points. Four others are at 6.7 points or more while Rasheed also leads the way at 6.7 rebounds.
Schenck's 6.3 assists is ahead of her career-best pace from a season ago and trails only Rasheed with 4.7 rebounds.
Winning their first three non-conference games by an average of 23 points, UTEP has cruised past Incarnate Word, North Dakota and New Mexico State.
All three teams have committed at least 20 turnovers, with UTEP forcing an average of 24.7 per game, leading to an average of 27.3 points off of turnovers for the Miners. In contrast, UTEP has committed just 47 in the three games leading to a shot advantage of 13.7 per game.
After turning the ball over 22 times in the season opener at Washington State, Northern Arizona dropped the number down to 18 against Washington and then just 14 in its 84-62 victory at home against UNLV on Wednesday.
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