PORTLAND, Ore. (February 14, 2021) – Another dominant run in the fourth quarter and another last second-shot unfortunately led to a similar result for the Northern Arizona Lumberjacks Sunday afternoon in Portland.
Delayed by a day due to a snowstorm in the area creating unsafe travel conditions, the Sunday afternoon finale managed to look rather similar to the first meeting between the Lumberjacks and Portland State Vikings a few days prior.
Leading 56-55 with just seconds remaining, the Lumberjacks fell behind as the Vikings came up with three points, this time at the free-throw line. The ensuing buzzer-beater by NAU came up short, with Portland State coming away with a sweep of the weekend on the 58-56 victory.
NAU (9-11, 7-9 Big Sky) put together a 13-0 run spanning nearly two and a half minutes, turning a 46-41 deficit into a 54-46 advantage with 4:30 left on the clock. Portland State (8-7, 6-6) responded with a trio of three pointers in a two-minute stretch, while NAU's final basket of the game came at the 3:46 mark.
Leading at the end of the first three quarters, NAU struggled to get going at the start of the fourth. Committing seven turnovers in the final 10 minutes, four occurred in the first two minutes of the period.
"I think our turnovers absolutely killed us," said NAU head coach
Loree Payne. "I think it cost us the game, especially some really critical turnovers down the stretch when we had the lead and we had the momentum. We just had a couple really unforced turnovers that allowed them to get buckets and back into it."
The Vikings took advantage, putting together a 7-0 run through the first three minutes to match their largest lead of the game at 46-41.
Temporarily snapping out of their funk, NAU started its 13-0 run just 13 seconds later as
Emily Rodabaugh hit a shot inside the paint.
Khiarica Rasheed followed with a putback layup off her own miss and Rodabaugh connected on a three to retake the lead.
Pushing ahead,
Regan Schenck hit 1-of-2 from the line before
Jacey Bailey put back the miss for an irregular three-point play.
JJ Nakai capped off the run with a three-pointer, finally forcing the Vikings to take a timeout with 4:30 left and the Lumberjacks holding their largest lead of the day at 54-46.
Portland State's first three of its final run came right out of the timeout, as Jada Lewis cut the lead to 54-49.
Nyah Moran answered with a basket in the paint off an assist from Rodabaugh, but the Lumberjacks would go cold from there, missing their final three shots and committing three turnovers to close out the day.
The late scoring droughts weren't the only ones for either side, with NAU going four minutes between baskets in the second quarter and Portland State held scoreless for a six-minute stretch before halftime as well. Each side struggled with turnovers, committing seven apiece, with the Vikings edging the Lumberjacks 11-7 during the quarter.
Leading 27-24 going into the break, NAU could not get back on the board until Bailey's jumper with 5:24 left in the third. Triggering a 7-0 run on the make, NAU retook the lead 41-39 on a layup by Rasheed to close out the scoring in the third quarter.
After being held scoreless for three minutes as the Lumberjacks stormed ahead, the Vikings wrapped up the day by hitting 3-of-5 from the field, with all the attempts coming from behind the arc. In fact, Portland State's final seven shots of the game came from three-point range, as did 17 of their 27 second-half attempts.
Jenna Kilty connected on her final two shots of the day, bringing the Vikings within one at 56-55 on her pair of threes. The second of Kilty's two threes hit with 2:17 remaining, leading to the sides traded turnovers and misses from the field.
Taking control of the ball with 27 seconds left, Portland State called a timeout after a foul by NAU with 18 more seconds off the clock. After an inbounds pass to Desirae Hansen, the junior waited as traffic moved around her before pulling up and drawing a foul on a three-point attempt with four seconds left.
"We have to do a better job of managing the end of the game and playing with a lot more poise," Payne said. "You're looking at two games where we had the lead with under 20 seconds and in both of them we didn't have solid defensive possessions where all we needed was one stop."
Hansen connected on the trio of free throws, registering the 13th and final lead change of the day, with NAU's ensuing shot missing the mark.
NAU returns to Flagstaff with somewhat of a shortened week due to the delayed game, hosting Weber State on Thursday and Saturday. The Wildcats were swept by Montana in Ogden, Utah this week, remaining winless on the season at 0-15, including an 0-12 run through the Big Sky.
