OGDEN, Utah (February 26, 2022) – Once again in control from the opening tipoff, the Northern Arizona Lumberjacks withstood a late push Saturday afternoon to close out their week on the road with a victory.
While the Weber State Wildcats (10-18, 6-13 Big Sky) cut the lead down to two with 7:46 remaining, the Lumberjacks (13-13, 10-8) closed the game out with a 22-12 advantage to finish off the 89-77 win in Ogden, Utah. After hitting 14-of-21 from the field in the first 12 minutes of the second half, Weber State connected on just 3 of its last 11 shots.
"I thought we did a really good job mixing up zone and man tonight," said Lumberjacks head coach
Loree Payne. "Foul trouble inhibited us from being able to turn up the pressure full court, but I thought our players did a really good job of adjusting. I think they really had it in their minds to buckle down today."
Fouls not only hindered Northern Arizona's defensive pressure but kept Weber State close early on before the Wildcats picked up their shooting from the field.
Seven first-quarter fouls led to six free throws in the opening 10 minutes. Six more fouls in the second quarter led to the Wildcats hitting 8-of-10 from the line, with 14 of Weber State's 32 first-half points coming at the free-throw line. Though Northern Arizona built up a 14-point lead in the game's opening minutes, Weber State trimmed it down to four midway through the second.
After leading by nine at the break, the Lumberjacks found themselves in a battle with the Wildcats as the home team hung around thanks to a 9-2 run through the middle of the third quarter.
As the Wildcats' offense went on its strong second-half run, the Lumberjacks held onto the lead every step of the way thanks in part to
Miki'ala Maio's fourth-quarter play. Scoring 13 of her team-high 19 points in the game's last 10 minutes, Maio came up with crucial jumpers to answer Weber State's offense and closed out the game at the free-throw line.
A layup off a turnover by Daryn Hickok cut Northern Arizona's lead to 62-60 less than a minute into the fourth, but Maio answered back with a jumper on the Lumberjacks' next possession. After Emma Torbert put in a three-pointer a minute later to bring the Wildcats once again within two, it was Maio who answered with a layup to keep the Lumberjacks in front by two possessions.
However, it was Maio's final six minutes that truly helped Northern Arizona close out the win.
Hitting a jumper just behind the free-throw line with 6:00 left, Maio then came up with a steal and layup to quickly turn a four-point game into a 74-66 lead. With the Wildcats turning to fouls in the final two minutes and still trailing by eight, Maio came up with a pair of offensive rebounds on missed free throws and created a four-point possession after making a pair of her own.
Following Maio's 19 points,
Lauren Orndoff added 18 and
Emily Rodabaugh finished with 13. All 10 Lumberjacks who played finished with at least four points, and six ended their days with at least seven.
"I challenged our bench after the Idaho State game because I feel like the last couple games they haven't been scoring as much as they were early when we were having a lot of success," Payne said. "Miki'ala is a player we need to be playing well for us to have success. It's really good to see her starting to get her rhythm back. She's kind of the depth person we need to alleviate some of the ball responsibilities off of Regan. They are a really good duo together when they are both playing well."
Finishing 53.8 percent from the field, Northern Arizona improved to 5-0 this season when hitting at least 50 percent from the field. The Lumberjacks also outrebounded the Wildcats 32-29 and forced 17 turnovers leading to 21 points.
Headed home to wrap up the regular season against Eastern Washington (8-19, 6-12) and Idaho (10-16, 9-8) on Wednesday and Friday respectively, Northern Arizona remains tied with Sacramento State for fifth place in the conference. Montana sits a half game ahead before their tip off with second-place Montana State on Saturday night.
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