FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (December 7, 2021) – Having extended their home winning streak to 10 games with a pair of victories to open Big Sky Conference play last week, the Northern Arizona Lumberjacks continue their homestand with three games in the span of five days.
After hosting Grand Canyon (5-2) on Thursday, Northern Arizona will take on a pair of California schools on Saturday and Monday. California Baptist (5-1) will arrive after hosting San Diego State on Wednesday and Cal Poly (1-5) will play its first game in nine days on Monday.
It's a run of familiar opponents for the Lumberjacks, who have faced the Lopes three times since 2016 including a 66-58 loss in Phoenix last December as well as a pair of meetings with the Lancers and Mustangs since 2016.
All three games will be available to stream on ESPN+ and Hulu with a subscription to the Disney Bundle. Thursday's game with Grand Canyon tips off at 6 p.m. followed by a 2 p.m. start against California Baptist on Saturday. Northern Arizona then opens the following week with another 6 p.m. game against Cal Poly.
The Lumberjacks swept the opening weekend of Big Sky play last week, beating Weber State 83-79 and outlasting Idaho State in overtime 81-74.
Khiarica Rasheed averaged 15.0 points, 6.5 rebounds and 3.5 assists while shooting 72.2 percent from the field. Rasheed moved into second on Northern Arizona's all-time rebounding list, passing former teammate Kaleigh Paplow and NAU Athletics Hall of Famer Alyssa Wahl with 773 career rebounds. The graduate student is also just one made field goal behind another NAU Hall of Fame inductee, Jess LeBlanc, for third place on the all-time list.
Regan Schenck's 4.5 assists per game during the first week of Big Sky play moved her into sixth in the career record book, 60 back of a place among the top three.
Last season, Northern Arizona visited Grand Canyon for the first time since 2016 and came up short in what became a game decided by a pair of scoring runs.
Putting together an 8-0 run early on in the third quarter, the Lumberjacks took an 11-point lead at the 7:22 mark thanks to three-pointers by
Emily Rodabaugh and
Jacey Bailey as well as a layup by
JJ Nakai. Leading 49-43 entering the fourth quarter, Northern Arizona went cold offensively in the fourth quarter and scored just two points across a span of more than nine minutes.
The Lopes hit 56.3 percent from the field in the fourth quarter, building up an 11-point lead of their own. The Lumberjacks' 25 turnovers led to 25 points for the Lopes, a gameplan implemented well by head coach Molly Miller in her first season. Grand Canyon forced 23.3 turnovers per game last season, scoring 24.8 points per game off opponents' miscues during the 2020-21 season. Forcing 24.8 turnovers per game against five Division I opponents this season, the Lopes have scored more than 23 points off of turnovers again this season.
Three players pace the Lopes' balanced scoring attack, with Jay McChristine at 10.9 points, Dominique Phillips with 10.4 and Amara Graham just behind at 9.4. All three arrived as transfers to Grand Canyon, with Phillips coming from Nevada, McChristine from Indiana State and Graham from UT Rio Grande Valley where she led the WAC in scoring a year ago.
Nine players average between 11.7 and 26.0 minutes per game while playing in at least six of the team's seven contests so far, as Miller added 10 newcomers to a rebuilt roster that reached the WAC Championship game last season.
The victor in that title game, California Baptist, returns Caitlyn Harper and Ane Olaeta after the pair won WAC Tournament MVP and WAC Player of the Year respectively. Olaeta entered the week at 17.5 points, 5.0 rebounds and 8.8 assists per game with Harper leading at 20.2 points while hitting 54.9 percent from the field in addition to 5.7 rebounds. Both played against Northern Arizona in 2019, along with fellow returning starter Georgia Dale, helped beat the Lumberjacks two years ago in Riverside.
Sitting at 5-1 this season with wins over schools such as UC Riverside, UC Irvine and UC Santa Barbara after going 26-1 last season. Scoring more than 90 points in a pair of its victories, California Baptist's offense averages 44.3 percent from the field and 34.7 percent from outside. In addition to Harper's strong shooting, Dale averages 10.7 points per game on just 6.8 field goals per game.
Meanwhile, Cal Poly is coming off of three consecutive losses to Denver, Nevada and Montana State after beating St. Thomas in San Luis Obispo on Nov. 26. The Mustangs are led by Maddie Vick and Maddie Willett at 11.7 and 10.0 points per game respectively this season while fifth-year senior Kristy Brown paces the team in rebounds with 6.0 per game.
Brown is the lone player remaining from the most recent between the schools in 2017, an 89-73 victory for Cal Poly in Flagstaff. While the Lumberjacks have scored more than 80 points in all three of their games in Flagstaff, the Mustangs have broken 70 just once this year.
Cal Poly's offense has hit 36.9 percent from the field and 22.5 percent from three-point range while holding opponents to 39.7 and 28.2 percent respectively.
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