Lumberjacks Shine in Record-Setting 108-77 Victory Against Lopes

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (December 9, 2021) – While head coach Loree Payne has often stated the 2021-22 edition of the Northern Arizona Lumberjacks is the deepest she has seen in her tenure, Thursday night's resounding victory over the Grand Canyon Lopes proved the point.
 
Jumping out to a seven-point lead less than four minutes into the game, the Lumberjacks (4-3, 2-0 Big Sky) erupted for a 108-77 victory against the Lopez (5-3, 0-0 WAC) while setting or tying various records both individually and as a team.
 
"It's long overdue. We have just been struggling to find that flow on offense, so we really focused this week on getting up a lot of threes which I think helped and also just working on different combinations, rotations and lineups," Payne said. "I feel like we hit a couple shots and started to get into the zone, and we just continued to build on that throughout the game."
 
The seven-point lead then became 25 at halftime, as Northern Arizona matched the program's most points in a single quarter with 33. A pair of layups brought it to a game-high of 34, 86-52, with 9:10 left on the clock leading to Northern Arizona's largest non-conference victory against a Division I team since a 66-35 win against UC Irvine in November 2014.
 
The 108 points is the third-most in program history, falling behind just the 114 in double overtime against Sacramento State in January 2020 and 109 against Antelope Valley in 2016. The total also stands as the 17th most scored by a Big Sky Conference team in history.
 
While the total technically set a record for the most points in regulation against a D-I opponent, it needed no qualifiers to set a new mark for field goals made in a game at 43.
 
Shooting 63.2 percent from the field, Northern Arizona also tied a game against Sacramento State in 2015 for the second-highest percentage and matched the program's record of 31 assists set against the Hornets in that same 2020 meeting.
 
"For us to just continue to build and build and never let up, and be able to rotate our entire bench in, we got a lot of kids minutes and also saved some of our big minute players," Payne said. "We have a big stretch coming up. It was really good to be able to rotate a lot of players and get some rest for some of those big minute players."
 
Just one Lumberjack broke the 30-minute mark against Grand Canyon, as Regan Schenck tied a program record with 14 assists and nearly set a new program record during the fourth quarter. It was the most assists for a Lumberjack in more than 30 years, with Stephanie Smith's 14 setting the program record against Kansas State in 1988.
 
Schenck finished with eight points and two rebounds along with the assist total, while Lauren Orndoff and Nina Radford combined for 47 points to lead the way in scoring.
 
Orndoff set a new career-high with 25 points in just 27 minutes, while Radford added 22 points in 24 minutes. The two were in double digits at halftime, as Radford connected on five three-pointers in the first half to set a new career-high of six makes from outside and Orndoff consistently found her way to the rim, hitting 10-of-13 shots from the field.
 
The duo combined for Northern Arizona's best run of the night and built up the Lumberjacks' first 20-point lead that remained for the final 24 minutes of the game.
 
Schenck found Orndoff open for three with 6:06 left before halftime, before the latter came up with a steal leading to a three by Radford off an offensive rebound.
 
A missed three by Grand Canyon on the other end put the Lumberjacks in transition, with Miki'ala Maio finding Orndoff for another three after grabbing the defensive board. Yet another turnover for the Lopes set up the final shot of the 11-0 run, as Radford drained another three of a pass from Schenck.
 
All 12 Lumberjacks who played scored in the game, with both Khiarica Rasheed and Sierra Mich'l adding 10 points apiece and Emily Rodabaugh adding nine points as well as a team-high eight rebounds. 
 
The 108 points for Northern Arizona is also the most Grand Canyon allowed in a game since Nov. 14, 2010 when the Lopes defeated UC San Diego 120-118 in overtime while both were Division II programs. 
 
"I think we owed GCU one," Payne said. "We were up on them pretty big last year down there and we kind of folded in the fourth quarter. We had a bunch of turnovers, couldn't hit a shot and they ended up stealing one from us."
 
Finishing last year's game in Phoenix with 25 turnovers, Northern Arizona's 16 is the lowest for an opponent against Grand Canyon this season. The Lopes were averaging 28 takeaways entering Thursday night's game, with the Lumberjacks' total the third-least during head coach Molly Miller's 33 games with Grand Canyon.
 
With their home win streak extended to 11 games dating back to January, the Lumberjacks will look to take another step closer to the program record of 13 as they host the California Baptist Lancers on Saturday at 2 p.m. The Landers (5-2) are coming off of a 78-77 loss to San Diego State on Wednesday, snapping a 17-game home winning streak of their own.
 
The Lancers finished the 2020-21 season 26-1, winning 26 consecutive games before falling in the third round of the WNIT against Rice.
 
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