FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (October 28, 2022) - For the first time in the past three seasons, the Northern Arizona Lumberjacks will be without the previous season's leading scorer.
In fact, head coach
Loree Payne enters her sixth season without her top two scorers and four of the top five from the 2021-22 season. In their place Northern Arizona added five freshman and a graduate transfer from within the Big Sky Conference, with
Regan Schenck and
Emily Rodabaugh returning as the program's most experienced players with 121 and 81 games played respectively.
"We have a lot of talent this year. We have a lot of young talent and returning talent," said Lumberjacks head coach
Loree Payne. "We are the youngest we have been and I think hands down the most talented we have been which is fantastic. We are going to have our ups and downs just having a little younger of a squad, but it's been competitive and it's been fun."
Both Schenck and Rodabaugh return to the Lumberjacks after historic seasons in 2022. Schenck set the single-season school record with 182 assists, surpassing Sade Cunningham's 177 from the 2008-09 season, and sits 165 away from matching the career record. The total ranked 16th in the NCAA last season, and the 5.3 assists per game finished 12th nationally.
Many of Schenck's assists came off Rodabaugh's three-point shooting. Hitting 42.3 percent from behind the arc, Rodabaugh ranks second in program history for a single season, third on the career list at 39.6 percent. While Rodabaugh's 55-of-130 shooting did not qualify for the NCAA's rankings, the percentage would have ranked 15th in the nation last season.
Coupled with Nyah and
Olivia Moran now entering their third years with the program, and
Fatoumata Jaiteh now 30 games into her collegiate career, Northern Arizona's team is nearly split down the middle with five true freshmen among the 12-player roster.
"Playing time is going to be really competitive. I would say from the top to the bottom of our roster, we are the deepest that we have been and that is saying a lot considering last year we were pretty deep," Payne said. "We could go with a lineup that is pretty much over six-foot or we can go with a smaller, more athletic lineup. We just have a lot of different combinations of players that really fit our system and our style."
One of the key pieces of the transition to a younger roster is former Idaho State Bengal
Montana Oltrogge. Hitting 5-of-8 from three-point range against the Lumberjacks last February, Oltrogge scored 21 points to help secure a crucial 76-66 victory in Pocatello less than two weeks before the Big Sky Conference Tournament.
Averaging 10.1 points and 3.9 rebounds last season, and holding a career 33.9 three-point shooting percentage, Oltrogge will immediately step into a scoring role for the Lumberjacks. Finishing at 72.8 points per game in 2021-22, the Lumberjacks lost 58 percent of their scoring from last season.
Not only were the Lumberjacks one of the highest scoring teams in program history, they also finished the year as one of the best shooting teams at Northern Arizona. Seventh in the nation at 37.2 percent from outside and 31st at 44.3 percent from the field, last year's Lumberjacks ranked second and fourth all-time. Now it's up to Payne to figure out how to best replicate last year's successes.
"If you come and watch any of our practices, Nyah is shooting the ball really well from three, Montana is one of the best three-point shooters in the conference," Payne said. "All of our post players have extended their range to where they can knock it down. Regan is a phenomenal three-point shooter when we can get her to shoot."
Joining the Lumberjacks as freshmen for the 2022-23 season are
Taylor Feldman,
Sophie Glancey,
Mary McMorris,
Saniyah Neverson and
Audrey Taylor. Feldman, McMorris and Neverson arrived in Flagstaff from California, Nevada and Arizona respectively while Glancey and Taylor remain teammates following their high school careers in Boise, Idaho.
Northern Arizona will stick close to home for much of its non-conference schedule, with trips to Arizona State and Arizona opening the year on Tuesday, Nov. 7 and Thursday, Nov. 10. After hosting UC San Diego for their home opener on Nov. 13, the Lumberjacks head to Riverside, Calif. for a return trip against California Baptist. A home game against Park University, Gilbert precedes Northern Arizona's trip to the U.S. Virgin Islands. Taking on Arkansas, Kansas State and Clemson at the Paradise Jam, Northern Arizona returns home a week later to face Southern Utah before trips to Fresno State, Cal Poly, UC Davis and UNLV before Big Sky play begins.
The Lumberjacks host the Idaho State Bengals and Weber State Wildcats on Dec. 29 and 31 respectively with the 16 remaining conference matches to follow through February 27. Under its new format this season, the Big Sky Conference Tournament will begin Saturday, March 4 in Boise.
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