FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (March 6, 2021) – Idle for the final week of the Big Sky Conference's regular season due to their schedule bye, the Northern Arizona Lumberjacks (12-12, 10-10 Big Sky) rested, practiced and watched as the Big Sky Conference Tournament's seeding worked its way out.
Seeded at No. 7 after playing all 20 of their conference games this season, one of just two programs to do so, the Lumberjacks will face the No. 10 Weber State Wildcats (2-19, 2-16) in Monday's first round at the Idaho Central Arena in Boise, Idaho. Tipping off at 5 p.m., the Lumberjacks and Wildcats will be the second game on the court Monday after the No. 8 Portland State Vikings face the No. 9 Eastern Washington Eagles at 2 p.m. Should the Lumberjacks win, they would advance to face the No. 2 Idaho Vandals at 5 p.m. on Tuesday.
All Big Sky Tournament games will be available on Pluto TV Channel 1050 as well on 93.5 FM/AM 930 KAFF Country Legends and at nauathletics.com/listen.
Winners in three of their final four games of the regular season, the Lumberjacks will face the Wildcats for the third time in a little more than two weeks. Weber State visited Flagstaff on Feb. 18 and Feb. 20, with NAU earning a pair of wins, 82-70 and 85-68. The two wins are among the seven straight the Lumberjacks have won at home since mid-January, with
Regan Schenck scoring a career-high 31 points in the second meeting between the schools. NAU has won six straight meetings with the Wildcats dating back to the 2018-19 season.
The first meeting between the two this season included 46 fouls and 45 turnovers combined between the teams.
NAU's three-point shooting, hitting 11-of-21 from outside, helped lead the way in the victory as Weber State hit just 3-of-9 from outside. In the second game, NAU
outrebounded Weber State 47-39 while outshooting the Wildcats 44.6 percent to 39.7 percent. Though the Lumberjacks attempted just four free throws, they took 25 more shots from the field than the Wildcats.
NAU scored 41 points off Weber State's 40 turnovers in the two games combined, accounting for 24.6 percent of the team's scoring in the two games. A total of 37 points came in transition in the two games, as the Lumberjacks looked to push the pace on offense while also pressing the Wildcats throughout both games.
For the Lumberjacks,
JJ Nakai averaged 15.0 points in the two games while hitting 6-of-12 from three in the two games while Schenck averaged 24.0 points, 5.5 assists and 5.5 rebounds.
Since the meeting between the teams, Weber State sophomore Daryn Hickok has broken out as the Wildcats' leading scorer and earned her first career Big Sky Player of the Week honor. Scoring 25.0 points, 7.0 rebounds and 2.0 steals in two victories against Sacramento State in Ogden, Utah, Hickok led Weber State to its first two wins of the season and into 10th in the Big Sky. In the two games against NAU, Hickok scored 22 and 18 points respectively.
A teammate of NAU's
Khiarica Rasheed and
Nina Radford at Grant High School in Portland, Ore., Hickok drew 15 fouls between the two games, hitting 14-of-19 from the free-throw line, as well as 13-of-23 from the field.
Improving from 9.6 points per game to 12.7 down the stretch, Hickok established herself as a crucial part of the Weber State offense. Kori Pentzer also improved her scoring average from 9.4 to 10.1 since playing NAU, while Jadyn Matthews averaged 10.5 points per game against NAU. While Weber State shot well from outside against NAU, hitting 8-of-19 to outpace its season average, the Wildcats also scored 80 points in the paint across the two games. Accounting for 58 percent of the team's scoring, the attack inside worked well for Emma Torbert, Dominique Williams and Matthews.
Torbert scored 12 points in the first game, with Williams following with 10 in the second. Matthews recorded a double-double of 13 points and 14 rebounds in the second game, following an eight-point, six-rebound performance to start the week. Ashley Thomas hit 3-of-4 from three-point range in the second game, recording her first double-digit scoring game of the season and setting a career-best for three-pointers made in a game.
Nakai leads the Lumberjacks with 14.8 points per game, ranking fourth in the Big Sky this season. Schenck's 6.6 rebounds and 5.0 assists pace the team, sitting 10th and first in the Big Sky respectively. Rasheed's 12.8 points ranks second for the Lumberjacks, with Schenck's 12.1 third. Two other Lumberjacks,
Miki'ala Maio and
Emily Rodabaugh, also average double-digits at 10.6 and 10.5 points per game. With Schenck's 30-of-60 season from three-point range, in addition to Nakai's 39.5 percent and Rodabaugh's 38.4 percent, NAU has hit 35.9 percent as a team from outside.
