FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (November 4, 2022) – As is the cyclical nature of college athletics, freshmen enter into a program, learn under the experienced upperclassmen and soon enough find themselves in those very same leadership roles with freshmen teammates of their own to bring along.
Never has the cycle been more clear in recent memory for the Northern Arizona women's basketball team than it is entering the 2022-23 campaign, with twins
Nyah Moran and
Olivia Moran moving into their third years with the Lumberjacks and boasting the fourth and fifth most career games played on the team at 60 and 57 respectively. In some ways, it's a welcome transition for the two who so recently were seen as the loud, energetic freshmen looking on from the bench.
"We're like literally starting fresh," said
Nyah Moran, with just six returning Lumberjacks joined by one graduate transfer, five true freshmen and even three new members of the team's staff. "It was kind of like a learning process for everyone. We were all kind of learning together."
Starting fresh also seems like a fitting description of the two when they arrived in Flagstaff ahead of the 2020-21 season. Moving from Riverside, Calif. to Flagstaff, Nyah and Olivia did so together amidst the COVID-19 Pandemic in what would truly be one of the oddest introductions to college athletics for a generation.
And for anyone who knows them well, or has simply watched a women's basketball game over the past two seasons, wearing some masks on the bench would not quiet the enthusiasm they were bringing into the program.
"We were quieter for sure," Olivia said.
"I definitely thought maybe I should chill out a little," Nyah added.
Of course soon enough, the two simply embraced who they are on the court, from the sidelines and even just in their lives away from the sport itself.
"Once they started to get to know us a little more, then we started to come out of our shell and be loud," Olivia concluded. "We're just loud in general."
It wasn't just their personalities that truly began to blossom as that 2020-21 iteration of the Lumberjacks embraced the twins, but soon enough their play on the court as well. Seen as identical twins for much of their lives dating back to their time through King High School, keen observers could begin to see the differences in what the two brought to the court as they found roles early on in their collegiate careers.
For Nyah, it was a sense of fearlessness on the court partially evidenced by a career high 15 points scored in back-to-back games on the road against one of the Big Sky's best schools, Montana State. Possibly guilty of a little too much aggression at times, with a total of 64 fouls committed in 381 minutes, Nyah looks at it with a slightly different definition.
"You need that energy and that's why I bring it. It annoys people on the other team," Nyah said. "Obviously I do that because it annoys people."
As for Olivia, it may have been a quieter start to her freshman season but it closed with a pair of clutch performances one might expect from a seasoned upperclassmen with well more than her 190 career minutes played to that point.
Forcing Northern Arizona's staff to leave her in the game, Olivia put up a career-high 21 points on 8-of-14 shooting in the Lumberjacks' home finale against Southern Utah while playing 29 minutes. Scoring nine points in the fourth quarter, Olivia helped put the game away for the Lumberjacks. Doing so again three weeks later in the third-place game of the Women's Basketball Invitational, Olivia wrapped up her freshman season with 13 points on 5-of-9 shooting as the Lumberjacks emerged with a 51-48 victory over the Stetson Hatters in a defensive struggle.
Seven of the 13 came in the fourth quarter, as Olivia accounted for a quarter of Northern Arizona's points and field-goals made.
While those performances came as freshmen with seemingly little pressure among an experienced roster, both Nyah and Olivia now see their upcoming 2022-23 season as even more free given their veteran statuses.
"Now that we are upperclassmen, we have more leeway to make mistakes," Olivia said.
That shouldn't be misconstrued as an invitation to play recklessly. The two sophomores, who prefer to be called juniors regardless of their remaining NCAA eligibility, simply see it as an opportunity to play looser than they may have in the past.
"There's still pressure because we are older now and there's more expected from us," Nyah said. "I just feel like there's more room to make mistakes because we're trusted to come back and fix our mistakes."
Buoyed by a few performances from their sophomore seasons, Nyah and Olivia enter their third years with a fair amount of confidence.
Playing with just seven players due to COVID-19 protocols last December in Moscow, Olivia recorded her first career double-double with 16 points and 10 rebounds against a Vandals team that had eliminated the Lumberjacks from the Big Sky Tournament the previous March. Still short-handed two weeks later in Sacramento, Nyah and Olivia combined for 30 points on 12-of-19 shooting and led the Lumberjacks to a 68-57 victory against the Hornets.
Olivia tormented Idaho a second time to close out the regular season, finishing with 18 points on 8-of-11 shooting to help lock up the No. 4 seed in the Big Sky Tournament.
Nyah enters the year after hitting 40.0 percent from three-point range in 2021-22 while Olivia's growing skill at the rim ended with a 49.0 percentage from inside the arc.
"I've struggled with my confidence as a freshman and sophomore, but I know I play better when I am confident," Olivia said. "So just feeling like I have more confidence this year, I know I am going to be able to play to my potential."
And as for mentoring the five new freshmen, who reside in the same position Nyah and Olivia were in such a short time ago?
"It was definitely an adjustment, because I don't think they were ready for it," Olivia said of the energy the two bring to essentially everything they are involved with.
"I think when they first came in, they were maybe a little intimidated by us," Nyah said, adding that it's her desire to see that energy reciprocated by all of those who are new to the program.
