FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (March 6, 2022) – Less than a month after their dramatic last-second victory over the Montana Lady Griz in Flagstaff, the Northern Arizona Lumberjacks will see their longtime Big Sky Conference rival once again.
Just as they did two seasons ago, the Lumberjacks (15-13, 12-8 Big Sky) and the Lady Griz (19-10, 12-8) will meet in the Big Sky Conference quarterfinals as the No. 4 vs. No. 5 game. This time around, it is Northern Arizona with the No. 4 seed, its highest since the 2007 tournament where the Lumberjacks upset a No. 25-ranked Lady Griz team on their home floor in Missoula.
Tuesday's 2:30 p.m. tipoff at the Idaho Central Arena in Boise, Idaho will be the ninth meeting between the schools in the Big Sky tournament. After losing the first four meetings in 1994, 1997, 1998 and 2003, Northern Arizona came away with wins in 2006 and 2007 before falling in 2016. The Lumberjacks' third win came in the 2020 quarterfinal two years ago, beating the Lady Griz 68-65 after being swept during the regular season.
The winner advances to Wednesday's semifinal at 5:30 p.m. against either the No. 1 seed Idaho State, the No. 8 seed Northern Colorado or the No. 9 seed Eastern Washington. All Big Sky Tournament games will be available on ESPN+, as well as Hulu with the Disney Bundle. Additionally, women's basketball games will be broadcast on 93.5 FM/AM 930 KAFF Country Legends and at nauathletics.com/listen.
Winning their final three games of the regular season to move up from sixth place in the Big Sky to fourth, the Lumberjacks have reached 80 points in all three victories over Weber State, Eastern Washington and Idaho. With its offense entering the tournament as one of the best in school history, Northern Arizona has continued its trend of winning consistently when breaking the 80-point mark.
Now 28-1 since the 2018-19 season when scoring 80, the Lumberjacks are averaging 73.1 points per game while shooting 38.0 percent from outside and 44.5 percent from the field overall. Those numbers currently rank third, first and third for a single season in Northern Arizona program history.
PREVIEWING MONTANA
However, Montana's defense has stalled Northern Arizona's offense better than anyone else during the 2021-22 season.
Holding the Lumberjacks to their second- and third-worst shooting performances this season, the Lady Griz kept the Lumberjacks to 60 points in both meetings. Northern Arizona shot just 30.3 percent in a 66-60 loss in Missoula on Jan. 22 and improved to only 34.5 percent in their 60-59 victory on Feb. 10. Montana's defense, ranked No. 1 in the conference with 66.1 points allowed per game, blocked 17 shots in the two games and held Northern Arizona to just 19 assists.
Neither side led by more than 10 points in the first game, with Montana's largest lead of nine coming in the fourth quarter. Northern Arizona cut the lead to four with less than a minute remaining but ran out of time after leading by six in a low-scoring first half.
The tides turned in the second meeting, with the Lumberjacks holding the Lady Griz to just five points in the first quarter at the Walkup Skydome, the lowest-scoring quarter for any Northern Arizona opponent this season. Leading by 13 points midway through the second quarter, the Lumberjacks maintained control until the final six minutes of the game.
With Sophia Stiles hitting a floating jumper from the free-throw line with 0.5 left on the clock, Montana took a 59-57 lead. After advancing the ball with a timeout, Northern Arizona tied the game on as
Nina Radford floated a pass in from right in front of her team's bench to Rasheed cutting to the far side of the basket. Fouled by Nyah Morris-Nelson and hitting the basket on the catch,
Khiarica Rasheed converted the three-point play for the one-point victory.
Stiles led Montana with 13.5 points while shooting 55.6 percent from the field in the two games, followed by Carmen Gfeller's 12.5 points and 8.5 rebounds. Sammy Fatkin missed the meeting in Flagstaff but scored 13 points with seven rebounds in her lone game against the Lumberjacks in Missoula.
For the Lumberjacks, Rasheed averaged 13.5 points and 10.0 rebounds against Montana while
Regan Schenck averaged 10.0 points, 5.0 rebounds and 4.0 assists.
While Northern Arizona is hitting 38.0 percent from three-point range as a team this season, Montana held the Lumberjacks to 10-of-35, 28.6 percent.
Nina Radford accounted for 5-of-13 from outside, while
Emily Rodabaugh struggled hitting just 1-of-6 from outside.
RECORD SETTERS
Rodabaugh's 43.6 percent and Radford's 43.0 percent from three-point range this season currently ranks second and third respectively for a single season in Northern Arizona history. The two are also currently Northern Arizona's No. 1 and No. 2 in career three-point percentage, with Radford at 41.8 percent during her two seasons with the Lumberjacks and Rodabaugh at 40.0 percent in her three seasons.
The two have benefited greatly from Schenck's passing prowess, with the guard now No. 2 all-time herself with 456 career assists. Sitting at 166 this season, Schenck is just 11 away from tying Sade Cunningham for the most in a single season by a Lumberjack.
While the trio are chasing single season and career marks, Rasheed is closing out her illustrious Northern Arizona career by extending a handful of career records. Holding the marks for games played (140) and rebounds (909), Rasheed is also second in career points (1,704), second in free throws made (425), third in field goals made (624) and fourth in minutes played (3,620).
Rasheed's games played total is third all-time in the Big Sky behind Idaho State's Estefania Ors (154) and Northern Colorado's Alexis Chapman (141), while her free throws made are seventh all-time, her rebounding is ninth all-time and her scoring is 17th all-time in the Big Sky.
Keep up-to-date with NAU Women's Basketball at the Big Sky Conference Tournament on
Twitter,
Instagram and
Facebook. The tournament begins on Monday, March 7 with the first round followed by the quarterfinals on Tuesday, the semifinals on Wednesday and the championship game scheduled for Friday.
