FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (December 30, 2021) – Left with just seven players available due to COVID-19 protocols, the Northern Arizona Lumberjacks came away with their first road victory of the season Thursday night in Moscow, Idaho.
"I'm so proud of the kids. We knew that it was going to be an uphill battle the day we got back from Christmas break," said Northern Arizona head coach
Loree Payne. "Obviously it's unfortunate circumstances and our team's health and safety was our No. 1 priority. We knew we were going to be with seven and I thought we had some great practices leading up. Lots of high energy and really efficient practices."
Jumping out to a 14-point lead in the first quarter, the Lumberjacks (6-5, 3-0 Big Sky) led from nearly start to finish and beat the Idaho Vandals (1-10, 0-2 Big Sky) 76-63.
Lauren Orndoff and
Nina Radford, two of Northern Arizona's three regular starters still available, finished with 22 and 21 points respectively to lead all scorers.
A 13-2 run in the first quarter pushed an early 7-4 lead into a 20-6 advantage, with five different Lumberjacks contributing on the scoreboard.
Layups by
Regan Schenck and
Nina Radford began the run, with
Lauren Orndoff connecting from behind the arc. Starting for the first time in her career,
Olivia Moran followed with a three-pointer of her own before
Sanjana Ramesh came up with a steal and a layup.
Northern Arizona held Idaho to just nine first-quarter points, with the Vandals hitting just 28.6 percent from the field. Committing 10 turnovers in the first quarter, Idaho fell into a hole it would never climb out of.
"They played their hearts out tonight, I am just so proud of them," Payne said. "I think it was one of the best defensive efforts we have had, we took care of the ball and we had some big time players step up. It's just overall a huge win, probably the biggest win we have had in my career."
Ultimately turning 19 Vandal turnovers into 27 points, the Lumberjacks held a 19-point advantage while committing 12 turnovers of their own. As Idaho's turnovers slowed in the second half, the Vandals cut into the Lumberjacks' advantage.
Holding a double-digit lead for nearly all of the first half, Northern Arizona held off a run by Idaho in the third quarter.
After Idaho cut it to five at 39-34 after a three-pointer by Sydney Gandy and a layup from Tiana Johnson,
Nina Radford put in the first of three clutch threes. The Vandals made another push, with a pair of Beyonce Bea free throws cutting the lead to 46-45, before Radford closed the third quarter with another shot from outside.
Bea, who was held scoreless in the first half, cut it down to two at 51-49 a minute into the fourth quarter before
Olivia Moran scored her first two points in the fourth quarter. Finishing with 16 points and 10 rebounds, the first double-double of the season by a Lumberjack, Moran scored seven in the fourth quarter.
A three by Radford, who improved on her 55 percent shooting from outside with a 3-for-5 game, and a three-point play by Orndoff put the Lumberjacks back in front by double-digits with 6:13 remaining.
All seven Lumberjacks scored against the Vandals, as the team outshot Idaho 40.8 percent to 35.4. Closing out the final two minutes of the game hitting 7-of-8 from the free-throw line, Northern Arizona held off Idaho's final push and kept Idaho off the scoreboard for the final 2:14.
With Saturday's trip to Eastern Washington postponed due to COVID-19 issues with the Eagles, the Lumberjacks will be off until Jan. 8 as they host the Southern Utah Thunderbirds. Beating Sacramento State 80-70 on the road Thursday night, Southern Utah (7-5, 3-0 Big Sky) will head to Northern Colorado on Saturday and Portland State on Jan. 6 before arriving in Flagstaff for a 2 p.m. tipoff.
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