CHENEY, Wash. (January 21, 2023) – Battling back from a 15-point deficit in the second half, the Northern Arizona Lumberjacks tied the Eastern Washington Eagles with four minutes remaining to eventually force overtime.
However, the Eagles (12-6, 5-3 Big Sky) battled back from four points down in extra period to take a three-point lead with just 25 seconds left on the clock. A missed layup by the Lumberjacks (11-10, 5-3 Big Sky) landed in the hands of the Eagles who connected on their final six free throws to clinch the 96-89 victory.
Down by 11 with 9:23 remaining, the Lumberjacks battled their way to overtime behind the shooting of
Montana Oltrogge and the passing of
Regan Schenck.
Oltrogge hit a pair of three-pointers 39 seconds apart and followed up with a jumper to make it an 8-0 run for Northern Arizona. While the Eagles pushed their lead back to seven after the Lumberjacks came within three, Oltrogge put up another five points on a 7-0 run to tie the game at 70. After entering the break even at 33-33, an 18-3 run through the first 4:24 of the third quarter had put Eastern Washington in control.
A basket by Eastern Washington's Jaleesa Lawrence put the Eagles back in front 72-70, but the final 3:27 of regulation included seven lead changes with Oltrogge hitting two more three-pointers while Schenck finished with six assists in the fourth quarter alone.
Nyah Moran opened the overtime period with three-point play and answered Jacinta Buckley's layup with a three-pointer to put the Lumberjacks up 86-82. However, Moran's three would be Northern Arizona's final field goal of the game as the Lumberjacks missed their final nine shots from the field, including a trio of desperation three-pointers in the game's closing seconds. In addition to the Eagles' 10-for-10 at the free-throw line in overtime, Eastern Washington hit 3-of-7 from the field.
Oltrogge's 19 fourth-quarter points pushed her to a team-high 26 in the game, setting a new career high, while adding five rebounds.
Fatoumata Jaiteh produced her first career double-double as the sophomore came down with nine rebounds in the second quarter alone to finish with 13 points and a career-best 14 boards.
Schenck, who fouled out at the end of regulation, finished with nine points and 10 assists, which all came in the second half.
Emily Rodabaugh and
Nyah Moran also finished in double-digits at 13 and 11 points respectively, as the Lumberjacks lost for just the third time in the past five years when scoring at least 80 points.
A 6-0 run to start the game gave Eastern Washington an early advantage, with Northern Arizona leading for just 52 seconds of the opening quarter thanks to five straight points by Rodabaugh. With the Eagles scoring five points in the final 53 seconds of the first and extending it to a 9-0 run with four free throws to open the second, the Lumberjacks were battling back for much of the day.
Sophie Glancey's layup with 1:54 left before halftime tied the game at 31, Northern Arizona's first tie since Schenck made it 13-13 with 1:07 left in the first. Jaydia Martin answered with a layup, but
Mary McMorris sent the Lumberjacks to the locker room thanks to her own layup with just six seconds left on the clock.
The Lumberjacks return to Flagstaff before capping off their first half of Big Sky Conference play in Greeley, Colo. next Saturday. Taking on the Northern Colorado Bears (9-9, 2-5 Big Sky) at 4 p.m. MST, the Lumberjacks will officially have faced the other nine conference programs with the second half of conference play beginning on Feb. 2 in Flagstaff against the Montana State Bobcats.
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