Lumberjacks Cruise Past Lady Griz 75-57 to Reach Big Sky Semifinals

BOISE, Idaho (March 8, 2022) – Battling through a slow start on the offensive end, Northern Arizona held strong defensively early on against Montana as it waited for the points to come.
 
After scoring just one point in the opening five minutes of the game, the Lumberjacks (16-13) put up 74 through the final 35 minutes and rolled past the Lady Griz (19-11) 75-57 in the Big Sky Conference Tournament quarterfinals. Leading by as much as 20 in the game, Northern Arizona's largest lead in a game against Montana since 2017, the Lumberjacks moved on to face the Northern Colorado Bears in the conference semifinals at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday.
 
"We struggled a little bit early on with just finding the bucket," said Lumberjacks head coach Loree Payne. "I felt like once we really settled in, our veterans took over and we got into the flow of things." 
 
Opening the game 0-6 from the field hardly fazed the Lumberjacks, who held the Lady Griz to a 2-of-16 start that included 13 consecutive misses from the field after starting the game 2-of-3. 
 
Montana's largest lead of the day came during the early stretch, holding a 7-1 advantage before Fatoumata Jaiteh's layup started a brief 5-0 run to come within one possession. Back-to-back baskets for Miki'ala Maio put the Lumberjacks in front for the first time and a layup at the first quarter buzzer from Lauren Orndoff sent the Lumberjacks into the break with a 13-12 lead.
 
From there, the Lumberjacks ended each quarter with a lead larger than the one before and improved to 4-1 in the Big Sky Tournament against Montana since 2006.
 
Entering halftime with a 36-28 lead, Northern Arizona built it to 55-42 at the end of three before closing out the win with the 18-point victory. The final score became the fourth-largest margin of victory this season and the largest away from Flagstaff this year. 
 
Forcing the Lady Griz into 22 turnovers, the Lumberjacks cashed in the miscues for 26 points of their own. Eight of those 26 came in the fourth quarter, all by Olivia Moran who effectively put the game out of reach with six minutes remaining.
 
Holding a 57-44 lead with 8:06 on the clock, Northern Arizona started a 7-0 run with Regan Schenck answering a Sophia Stiles layup with a step back jumper. Moran added a jumper off a turnover from Stiles and added a step back jumper while drawing a foul less than a minute later. Converting the three-point play with the make, Moran pushed the lead to a game-high 20 points with 6:05 left on the clock.
 
Montana briefly trimmed the lead back down to 14, but Moran buried a three-pointer right in front of the Northern Arizona bench with 2:15 left to finish out the Lumberjacks' scoring for the day.
 
A trio of seniors paced the Lumberjacks, led by Khiarica Rasheed's second double-double in the past three games at 17 points and 10 rebounds. Orndoff put in a team-high 18 points on 7-of-12 shooting from the field and added four steals. Maio's 14 points, including the seven to spark the team in the first quarter, and Moran's 12, with 10 in the fourth to close out the victory, rounded out the team's leaders.

"We played them close in two games in conference," Payne said. "It was just something we needed to focus on; defense, rebounding. They're the best defensive team in the conference, so we needed to get our transition offense going and I think we did a really good job with that."

Rasheed's second quarter performance, with nine points and four rebounds, was instrumental in putting some separation between Northern Arizona and Montana after a pair of close results during the regular season.
 
Alternating baskets with Orndoff on a 9-0 run, Rasheed drilled a three-pointer as Northern Arizona pulled ahead by eight. A jumper with 2:03 left in the half provided the Lumberjacks with their first double-digit lead at 34-24 before a pair of free throws closed out her second quarter.
 
Rasheed last produced three straight double-doubles in last season's three-game run at the 2021 Women's Basketball Invitational and finished with an average of 14.7 points and 10.0 rebounds. Rasheed also tied a career high with three blocks and moved into first all-time in free throws made by hitting 8-of-10 from the line.
 
Northern Arizona will face another program it split its regular season meetings with as Northern Colorado upset the No. 1-seeded Idaho State Bengals 72-54 in the first game of Tuesday's schedule. Northern Colorado held Northern Arizona to its lowest-scoring game of the season in a 61-49 victory in Flagstaff before falling at home 77-71 just five days later.
 
Outrebounded 40-34 in the first meeting, the Lumberjacks answered with a 40-21 advantage in the second meeting. After Kurstyn Harden scored 25 of Northern Colorado's 61 in Flagstaff while grabbing 13 rebounds, the Lumberjacks held the Bears' leading post player to 14 points and three rebounds while fouling out in just 17 minutes of play the second time around. 
 
Tipoff from Idaho Central Arena in Boise, Idaho is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. All Big Sky Tournament games will be available on ESPN+, as well as Hulu with the Disney Bundle, and women's basketball games at the tournament will be broadcast on 93.5 FM/AM 930 KAFF Country Legends and at nauathletics.com/listen. Fans can also follow along through live stats at bigskystats.com.

Fans can also keep up-to-date with NAU Women's Basketball at the Big Sky Conference Tournament on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.