FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (November 11, 2022) – After traveling south through the state twice to face a pair of Pac-12 programs to get the season started, the Northern Arizona Lumberjacks will now get their opportunity to play in Flagstaff before making their first trip out of the state next week.
First hosting the UC San Diego Tritons (0-1) on Sunday at 2 p.m. in Rolle Activity Center, the Northern Arizona Lumberjacks (0-2) will then head to Riverside, Calif. to face the California Baptist Lancers (1-0) at 7 p.m. MST on Wednesday. Oddly enough, the Tritons and Lancers have each played just one game this season as they faced off with one another on Monday in Riverside.
It'll be the first meeting with UC San Diego since 1986, though the programs were scheduled to face off in La Jolla, Calif. last December before COVID-19 protocols forced the game to be canceled. Meanwhile, the Lumberjacks and Lancers have played in three of the past four seasons to account for every meeting in their histories.
Nearly upsetting Arizona State on Monday, with the 69-68 final score in Tempe coming as the Sun Devils scored the final five points of the game, Northern Arizona fell 113-56 to the No. 19 Wildcats on Thursday night in Tucson.
Montana Oltrogge wasted no time finding a crucial role for the Lumberjacks, scoring a team-high Monday night in Tempe and sits at an average of 13.5 points and 5.5 rebounds through Northern Arizona's first two games. Clicking with
Regan Schenck early on, many of Oltrogge's five made three-pointers so far this season came on assists from the Lumberjacks' point guard.
Schenck finished with 13 assists against Arizona State and added five against Arizona and the senior looks to take the top spot on the program's all-time list. Averaging 12.0 points per game, Schenck is second to Oltrogge in scoring while sitting third on the team with 4.0 rebounds.
Quickly becoming accustomed to the college level, freshman
Sophie Glancey is averaging 9.5 points and 8.5 rebounds per game while shooting 53.3 percent from the field. After grabbing 13 rebounds against Arizona State, Glancey recorded her first career double-digit scoring game with a team-high 11 points against Arizona.
As for the Tritons, they fell to the Lancers 84-76 to open their third season in Division I after five consecutive 20-win seasons at the Division II level from 2015-16 to 2019-20. Denali Pinto, a graduate transfer from Colorado School of Mines, led UC San Diego with 17 points on 4-of-8 shooting, including 3-of-5 from outside. Sydney Brown, an All-Big Sky Second Team selection in 2021-22, finished with 12 points and seven rebounds while Julia Macabuhay finished with 13 points, three assists and three rebounds.
Last season, UC San Diego finished 13-14 overall and 10-8 in the Big West while being led by Brown's 12.0 points and 7.9 rebounds and Macabuhay's 8.1 points and 2.1 assists. The Tritons finished fourth in the conference's preseason poll while remaining ineligible for the Big West Conference championship due to their D-I transition.
On the other side of the season opener, the Lancers opened their fifth year within D-I with the 84-76 victory led by 31 points from Trinity San Antonio. Now a sophomore, San Antonio opened up her second season with the Landers by taking 23 of the team's 64 shots from the field. Last season in Flagstaff, San Antonio scored 10 points in 15 minutes as California Baptist defeated Northern Arizona 89-73 in December.
Finishing 23-9 last season and 13-5 within the WAC, the Lancers returned just three of their nine leaders in minutes played from last season. Along with San Antonio, Brittany Klaman and Tiena Neale each played in at least 15.0 minutes per game last season. Klaman scored 10 points and added four rebounds in last season's game against the Lumberjacks while Neale played just five minutes. Averaging 11.9 minutes per game last season, Dorcus Wu started and scored 12 points with six rebounds against the Lumberjacks last season.
The Lancers landed fourth in both the coaches and media WAC Preseason Polls while San Antonio landed on the Preseason All-WAC First Team from both the coaches and media.
Both games will be available on ESPN+ this weekend, with Sunday's game against UC San Diego available to steam
here and Wednesday's game against California Baptist
here. Live stats for Sunday can be followed
here and Wednesday
here.
Make sure to follow the NAU women's basketball team on
Twitter,
Instagram and
Facebook for updates throughout the season.
