LAS VEGAS, Nev. (December 21, 2022) – Wrapping up their non-conference schedule with a meeting against the UNLV Lady Rebels, the Northern Arizona Lumberjacks couldn't erase their early deficit Wednesday night in Las Vegas.
Down by 15 following a 19-0 run in the first quarter, the Lumberjacks came back within five thanks to a 10-0 run of their own spanning the final minute of the opening quarter and the first minute of the second. Ultimately falling 93-73 to the Lady Rebels (10-2, 0-0 Mountain West), the Lumberjacks (6-7, 0-0 Big Sky) ended a two-game winning streak over UNLV.
While the Lumberjacks found success shooting from outside, finishing 10-of-27 from beyond the arc, UNLV held Northern Arizona to just 16-of-43 from two-point range. On the other end of the court, the Lady Rebels hit 46.5 percent from the field and 75.0 percent from the free-throw line, where they doubled up the Lumberjacks' 14 attempts with 28 of their own.
UNLV's Desi-Rae Young entered the halftime break with 15 points and 10 rebounds, completing a double-double as Northern Arizona trailed 42-31. The Lumberjacks ended the game trailing the Lady Rebels by just two on the boards, 44-42, but finished with 19 turnovers leading to 21 UNLV points.
After shooting just 30.3 percent from the field in the first half, the Lumberjacks came out firing in the third quarter. Hitting 9-of-16 from the field, Northern Arizona put up 25 points in the quarter as
Emily Rodabaugh accounted for half of the scoring in the period. However, UNLV countered with an 11-for-15 quarter, 73.3 percent from the field, and extended its lead to 74-56.
While the Lady Rebels pushed the lead to 20 a minute into the fourth, the Lumberjacks battled back to come within 12 before an 8-0 UNLV run to close out the final 2:30 ended any hopes of another late rally.
Rodabaugh led the Lumberjacks with 26 points, one off of her career high of 27 set against UNLV in Las Vegas two years prior while connecting on 6-of-10 from outside. The junior matched her career high in three-pointers made, hitting six for the fourth time in her Lumberjack career, and improved to 14-of-22 from outside against the Lady Rebels over the three meetings in the past three years.
Regan Schenck added 11 points to complete a double-double as the senior reached at least 10 assists for the eighth time in her career. Three of her 10 assists came on three-pointers by Rodabaugh, with Schenck now sitting just 78 assists back of tying Sade Cunningham's program record. Averaging 6.7 assists per game this season, Schenck is roughly 11 or 12 games away from taking over the top spot.
Freshman
Sophie Glancey finished 4-of-6 from the field for 10 points, the 10th double-digit scoring game in her 13th career game with the Lumberjacks.
Northern Arizona will take a break over the holiday weekend before returning to their home court for the first time since Dec. 3 to host the Idaho State Bengals (5-6, 0-0 Big Sky). The Bengals concluded their own non-conference schedule with a loss to Loyola Chicago at the UCF Christmas Classic Wednesday night. The teams will tip off the Big Sky Conference schedule on Thursday, Dec. 29 at 6 p.m. MST in the Walkup Skydome. Northern Arizona will then face Weber State (4-8, 0-0 Big Sky) at 2 p.m. on Dec. 31. The Wildcats closed out their non-conference schedule with four straight losses to Tarleton State, North Dakota, Utah Tech and Utah.
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