CEDAR CITY, Utah (February 21, 2022) – Needing a victory to pull within a half-game of third place in the Big Sky Conference, the Northern Arizona Lumberjacks put themselves in a nearly impossible situation Monday night in Cedar City, Utah.
Trailing by 18 after the opening quarter, the Lumberjacks (12-12, 9-7 Big Sky) bounced back to play the Thunderbirds (16-10, 12-5) even for the next two quarters but entered the fourth still facing an 18-point deficit. Falling 90-67 on the first night of a three-game road trip, Northern Arizona now stands in a three-way tie for fourth place with Montana and Sacramento State with the trio all 2.5 games back of Southern Utah with four games to play.
Southern Utah hit 70.6 percent from the field in the opening quarter while taking 17 shots from the field to Northern Arizona's nine. Forcing the Lumberjacks into eight first-quarter turnovers while outrebounding the visitors 7-3 through the game's first 10 minutes, the Thunderbirds built up a considerable lead as they hit 5-of-6 from outside.
While the overall shooting from the field cooled in the second, with Southern Utah back down at 47.4 percent, the Thunderbirds put in another 3-of-7 from outside to finish the half 8-of-11. Meanwhile, Northern Arizona missed their lone three-pointer of the first half despite entering the game as the nation's 11th-best three-point shooting team at 37.4 percent.
With the Lumberjacks down 21 points at the half, Southern Utah's 51 points stands as the most Northern Arizona has allowed in a half this season.
Canceling out the second quarter with their own 21-18 advantage in the third, the Lumberjacks briefly cut the Thunderbirds' lead down to 14 after a pair of three-pointers by
Emily Rodabaugh and a fastbreak layup for
Regan Schenck following a steal. Coupled with a Rodabaugh layup to get it started, the quick 10-0 run across a 1:11 stretch was the largest of the game for Northern Arizona.
Rodabaugh finished with a team-high 19 points on 8-of-12 shooting from the field, including 3-of-5 from outside. The trio of three-pointers were the only makes from behind the arc for the Lumberjacks, as the team finished 3-of-8 overall compared to the Thunderbirds' 12-of-23.
Samantha Johnston hit 5-of-9 from outside for Southern Utah, with all five of her makes coming in the first half. Natalia Otkhmezuri added a 6-of-9 day from outside, hitting 4-of-6 in the second half.
Northern Arizona's final push came at the beginning of the fourth quarter, as
Regan Schenck grabbed an offensive rebound and put in a jumper before
Olivia Moran did the same a possession later. Following an offensive foul by Southern Utah, Schenck scored a layup to force a Thunderbirds timeout with 8:07 left on the clock and a 69-57 lead.
Four quick points out of the timeout for Southern Utah pushed the lead back to 16 as Northern Arizona could not get the lead back down under 12 the rest of the night.
Schenck finished with 10 points, five rebounds and four assists, while
Lauren Orndoff added 10 points as well.
The Lumberjacks now head to Pocatello, Idaho for a meeting with the first-place Idaho State Bengals on Thursday at 7 p.m. Idle on Monday after beating Sacramento State 67-56, Idaho State is tied with Montana State atop the Big Sky. In the first meeting between the teams back on Dec. 4 in Flagstaff, Northern Arizona rallied to beat Idaho State 81-74 in overtime. Idaho State went on to win 15 of its next 18 games.
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