FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (November 6, 2022) – For the second consecutive season, the Northern Arizona University women's basketball team will open up its regular season with a pair of games against Pac-12 opponents.
Opening the season at the Arizona State Sun Devils on Monday at 8 p.m., the Lumberjacks will make another trip south on Thursday to face the No. 19 Arizona Wildcats for a 6:30 p.m. tipoff. While it will be the fifth meeting between the Lumberjacks and Wildcats since the 2017 season, it is Northern Arizona's first game against Arizona State since 2010.
"We are really excited to be opening our season in the state of Arizona, playing two Power Five teams," said Lumberjacks head coach
Loree Payne. "I think our non-conference schedule will give our team, especially our young players, incredible experience as we continue to prepare for Big Sky Conference play."
Monday night's season opener will be the debut for a variety of Lumberjacks, as graduate transfer
Montana Oltrogge is joined by freshmen
Mary McMorris,
Taylor Feldman,
Audrey Taylor,
Sophie Glancey and
Saniyah Neverson as the six newcomers to the 12-player Lumberjacks roster.
Coming off an appearance in the Big Sky Conference championship game, the Lumberjacks are led by
Regan Schenck and
Emily Rodabaugh with
Nyah Moran,
Olivia Moran,
Fatoumata Jaiteh and
Sanjana Ramesh as the six returners. Schenck set a new program record with 182 assists last season while Rodabaugh finished second in three-point percentage for a single season at 42.3 percent. Despite the turnover on the Lumberjacks roster, Northern Arizona was still voted to finish third by the media and fourth by the coaches in the Big Sky Conference Women's Basketball Preseason Polls. The Lumberjacks have finished with a record above .500 and within the top five of the Big Sky Conference in each of the past three seasons.
Voted 12th in both the Pac-12 Women's Basketball Preseason Media and Coaches Polls, Arizona State's season debut will serve as the first game with the Sun Devils for head coach Natasha Adair. Arriving from Delaware in March, Adair took over for Charli Turner Thorne who retired following the 2021-22 season.
Similar to the Lumberjacks, the Sun Devils bring back just six players from last year's roster. Junior Jaddan Simmons leads the returners, averaging 9.6 points, 3.4 rebounds and 2.8 assists in 29 minutes per game.
Last season, the Sun Devils finished 12-14 overall and 4-9 in the Pac-12. Eliminated from the Pac-12 Tournament in the opening round by Oregon State, Arizona State still finished 49th overall in the NET Rankings to end the 2021-22 season.
Meanwhile, the Wildcats enter another season with a national ranking and near the top of the Pac-12. Voted second by the media and third by the coaches, Arizona enters head coach Adia Barnes' seventh season in Tucson looking for another 20-win season. On a run of four consecutive 20-win seasons, the Wildcats finished fourth in the Pac-12 with a 10-6 conference record last season.
Shaina Pellington, Cate Reese and Lauren Ware all return after starting 27, 26 and 24 games respectively a year ago.
Reese, an AP All-American Honorable Mention and All-Pac-12 selection last year, led the Wildcats with 14.3 points and 6.0 rebounds per game while shooting 45.1 percent from the field. Pellington ranked second behind Reese with 11.3 points and tied for a team-high 2.4 assists per game.
Ware, an Honorable Mention Pac-12 All-Freshman honoree in 2021, averaged 5.7 points and 4.2 rebounds as a sophomore last season. Ware also blocked 1.12 shots per game.
In last season's 82-55 victory for the Wildcats in Flagstaff, Ware did not play while Reese and Pennington combined for just 20 minutes on the court as Arizona took control early on. Reese finished with eight points and four rebounds with Pennington at six points.
Both games will be available on Pac-12 Plus this weekend, with Monday's meeting with the Sun Devils
here and Thursday's game against the Wildcats
here. Live stats for Monday can be followed
here and Sunday
here.
Make sure to follow the NAU women's basketball team on
Twitter,
Instagram and
Facebook for updates throughout the season.
