NAU Women’s Basketball Rallies Again, Knocks off Idaho State in Overtime

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (December 4, 2021) – Trailing by nine entering the fourth quarter, the Northern Arizona Lumberjacks matched Thursday's comeback victory while adding a little more drama to the first week of Big Sky Conference play.
 
A 16-9 advantage in overtime pushed Northern Arizona (3-3, 2-0 Big Sky) to an 81-74 victory over the Idaho State Bengals (2-6, 1-1 Big Sky) to snap a three-game losing streak to the defending Big Sky Conference champions.
 
"To be 2-0 in conference at this point in the season, you feel pretty good," said Lumberjacks head coach Loree Payne. "We obviously have a tough string of games coming up, but for us to get these two conference wins, at the end of the day all that matters is Big Sky play."
 
Tied at 65 thanks to an 11-4 run across the final six minutes of regulation, the Lumberjacks forced overtime thanks to Sierra Mich'l's block on Dora Goles' pull-up jumper from the free-throw line as time expired in the fourth quarter. Six points from Mich'l put the Lumberjacks in front by three early on in overtime, but Idaho State evened it up again at 71-71 with a three by Estefania Ors with 2:06 remaining.
 
However, three-pointers by Nyah Moran and Nina Radford put the Lumberjacks up by three with just 34 seconds left on the clock. After Ors missed another shot from behind the arc to tie the game, Miki'ala Maio connected on four free throws around a charge by Goles to clinch Northern Arizona's 10th consecutive home victory.
 
Mich'l led the Lumberjacks with 21 points off the bench, hitting 5-of-5 from the field and 11-of-14 from the free-throw line, and added four rebounds, three steals in 20 minutes. Maio added 13 points and five assists, while Khiarica Rasheed finished with 13 points, eight rebounds and six assists. 
 
"We had to play two bigs. We haven't really had to do that as much... so for us, we had to do some things that we haven't got a ton of practice on, and I felt like they stepped up. Sierra, she's going to be big time. Defensively, offensively, she just gives us such an athletic post presence."
 
Neither side led by more than six points through the first 20 minutes of play, with the Lumberjacks entering the break trailing by just one at 36-35. While Rasheed gave Northern Arizona a one-point lead with a layup to start the second-half scoring, Idaho State's largest run of the afternoon put the Bengals in control.
 
A three by Tomekia Whitman opened up a 9-0 stretch, with Idaho State eventually taking a nine-point lead with 3:36 left in the third. Rasheed brought it back to four with back-to-back layups, but another three for Whitman coupled with a pair of free throws by Finley Garnett sent Idaho State into the fourth leading by nine.
 
Needing its defense to step up late, Northern Arizona held Idaho State to 3-of-12 from the field in the fourth while also forcing six turnovers.
 
The comeback began instantly, with Rasheed coming up with a steal on the Bengals' first offensive possession of the quarter. After finding Regan Schenck for the fastbreak layup, Rasheed added another assist to Mich'l, who came up with a steal and cashed in the turnover with a layup of her own.
 
Emily Rodabaugh made it three straight turnovers for Idaho State, coming up with a third straight steal by the Lumberjacks and driving the length of the court for the fastbreak layup. 
 
While Idaho State recovered and regained a seven-point advantage, a three by Radford began the 11-4 run to close out regulation and force overtime.
 
Mich'l, who committed her fourth foul early in the fourth quarter, played the final seven minutes of the game and scored the first six of the extra period.
 
"It was the flow of the offense 100 percent, Coach (Payne) set up some plays that were run through me because in past seasons they might play up on some of our other players," Mich'l said. "She thought it would be a good set-up to run things through me. I'm new here. I'm still trying to prove myself, so it's super important to have games like this to prove what I can do for this team."
 
With Schenck and Lauren Orndoff fouled out, Mich'l remained on the court alongside Rasheed, Maio, Radford and Moran for the final 2:30 of the game. After Ors tied it back up at 71 with 2:06 left, and Jordan Sweeney hit 1-of-2 from the line to retake the lead, it was Moran and Radford who connected on just the second and third three-pointers of the game for Northern Arizona. 
 
"Nina is a pure scorer. I've told her anytime you get your feet set, you have a green light to shoot the ball. She's confident and she's poised, I think she has the highest basketball IQ on our team by far. And Nyah stepped in. One of the things I told her when I put her in is to be poised and be composed. But just giving her an opportunity to go in, be posed and hit another big three."
 
Just as Weber State did on Thursday, Idaho State led for 32 minutes compared to Northern Arizona's 9:16. While the Lumberjacks struggled with turnovers, and the teams combined for 52 fouls, they hit 58 percent from the field in the victory and closed out the night with a 38-31 advantage on the boards.
 
With the first week of Big Sky Conference games complete, both programs move back to non-conference play for the next three weeks. Northern Arizona will host Grand Canyon (5-2) on Thursday at 6 p.m. and California Baptist (5-1) on Saturday at 2 p.m. in Flagstaff while Idaho State takes on Carroll College in Pocatello, Idaho on Wednesday.

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