Lumberjacks Bounce Back with 88-73 Victory Against Cal Poly

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (December 13, 2021) – Though Northern Arizona is nearing the end of their six-game homestand spread across a 16-day stretch in December, the respite from the road has been kind to the Lumberjacks.
 
After falling for the first time at home for the first time in 11 months, the Lumberjacks (5-4, 2-0 Big Sky) bounced right back with yet another high-scoring victory in Rolle Activity Center. A 12-0 run in the span of just a few minutes pushed Northern Arizona to an 88-73 victory against the Cal Poly Mustangs (1-6), with the Lumberjacks taking a 19-point lead in the fourth quarter after seeing their advantage trimmed to just three late in the third.
 
The Lumberjacks surpassed the 80-point mark for the fourth time in the past five games while all five of the team's victories this season have come when scoring at least 80 points and when shooting at least 45 percent from the field.
 
"I think we have the ability to put up that amount of points on any given night. We just have to tighten up our defense," said Lumberjacks head coach Loree Payne. "Our one-on-one defense is not where it needs to be at this point in the season. That's definitely a big focus for us."
 
Setting a new career high just a few days earlier, Lauren Orndoff matched the total with another 25 points while hitting 10-of-14 from the field, including 3-of-6 from outside. Miki'ala Maio, Emily Rodabaugh and Nyah Moran all joined Orndoff in double digits, scoring 15, 12 and 10 points respectively.
 
Rodabaugh added eight rebounds and four blocks while hitting 3-of-3 from behind the arc. For the game, Northern Arizona hit 8-of-17 from three with Nina Radford adding a pair of her own. In addition to shooting well from the field, the Lumberjacks made 16-of-17 from the free-throw line. Hitting 94.1 percent, it was the best free-throw shooting game with at least 17 attempts since a 20-for-21 day against UC Santa Barbara on Nov. 23, 2014.
 
The Lumberjacks got off to a slow start from the field, hitting just 36.8 percent in the opening quarter while the Mustangs took their largest lead of the day at 25-18. Starting the game 0-of-6 from three-point range, Northern Arizona dropped in just two of its eight makes in the second quarter leading to a 6-of-7 second half.
 
After Radford closed out the opening quarter with a layup, three-pointers by Orndoff and Radford brought Northern Arizona within one. Orndoff missed her look at a third straight three-pointer for the Lumberjacks, but followed the ball in and rebounded her own miss for a layup.
 
Back in front 28-27, Northern Arizona temporarily relinquished its lead after four straight points by Cal Poly's Julia Nielacna. Another 10-2 run for the Lumberjacks, aided in part by their 40-32 advantage on the boards, put them in front for the rest of the night.
 
"For us, we have got to knock down open shots. I think in the first part of the game, we were struggling from outside so they were able to dig in and sink in on Khia a little bit more," Payne said. "But in the second half, I think we opened it up. We knocked down quite a few shots outside, Lauren and Emily were on fire out there and Nina hit a couple, that's important. We have to have a balanced inside out attack."
 
After trailing by as much as 14, Cal Poly trimmed Northern Arizona's lead back down to three as the Lumberjacks committed three turnovers in the span of less than three minutes. 
 
A pair of free throws by Regan Schenck, as well as a three from Rodabaugh and a fastbreak layup for Khiarica Rasheed ended an 11-0 run for the Mustangs, with the Lumberjacks settling back down and retaking control.
 
"That timeout with about two minutes to go in the third, they were out of control," Payne said. "Calm down, take a breath, have some composure. It was almost like we were getting so sped up and we were doing it to ourselves."
 
Orndoff took over for the first half of the fourth quarter, scoring 10 points in a little more than five minutes. Aided by another three from Rodabaugh and a layup by Rasheed, both off assists from Schenck who finished with another eight, Northern Arizona cruised to its fifth victory in Flagstaff this season. 
 
Returning to the court on Friday, the Lumberjacks host the 2021 NCAA runner-up Arizona Wildcats, who enter the week ranked No. 4 in the nation. Sitting at 9-0 this season, Arizona makes its way back up to Flagstaff for the first time since December 2017, when a much different Wildcats program fell to the Lumberjacks 84-66. 
 
Friday's 4 p.m. tipoff in the Walkup Skydome will be the Lumberjacks final non-conference game at home and begin a stretch of seven road games across the team's next nine contests.
 
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