Lumberjacks Face Second-Straight Pac-12 Opponent on Friday at Arizona

Northern Arizona Women's Basketball

GAME 2	Northern Arizona at Arizona (Friday, Nov. 10 | 6:30 p.m. MST)
FOLLOW	Video | Live Stats
LOCATION	Tucson, Ariz. | McKale Center
GAME NOTES	Northern Arizona

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (Nov. 9, 2023) – With one game under its belt, the Northern Arizona University women's basketball team is preparing for its next challenge at Arizona on Friday (Nov. 10) night. Tip-off against the Pac-12 foe is set for 6:30 p.m. Mountain Standard time at the McKale Center in Tucson, Ariz.
 
The game will be broadcast free of charge on the Arizona Livestream.
 
The Wildcats are the second-straight Pac-12 program the Lumberjacks will face, falling to Oregon by a score of 81-48 in Monday's season opener in Eugene, starting the season 0-1. Arizona began its season 1-0 with a 68-57 victory at New Mexico State on Monday night.
 
Northern Arizona trails the all-time series, 29-7, and have lost four straight to the Wildcats. The two squads last faced off exactly a year ago on Nov. 10, 2022, in Tucson where NAU suffered a 113-56 loss. Arizona went on to finish 22-10 on the year with an 11-7 mark in Pac-12 play, advancing to the second-round of the NCAA Tournament.
 
The Lumberjacks went on to put together a 20-win season and a postseason berth as well, finishing the season 21-14 with a 13-5 record in the Big Sky Conference, earning a share of the league's regular season title. After advancing to their second-straight title game, NAU made the program's first WNIT appearance.
 
Picking up where they left off, the Lumberjacks were predicted to finish first by the media and second by the coaches in the conference's preseason polls. The Wildcats were picked to finish seventh by both the coaches and the media in the Pac-12 preseason polls.
 
Against New Mexico State, the Wildcats had three score in double figures led by Kailyn Gilbert with 16 points and Maya Nnaji with 15. True freshman Breya Cunningham earned a double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds. As a team, Arizona scored 40 points in the paint and shot 49.2 percent (29-59) from the field with five three pointers.
 
In a balanced scoring attack, sophomore Sophie Glancey led NAU with nine points at Oregon, followed by Taylor Feldman who scored eight off the bench after making two three pointers. Grace Beasley stuffed the stat sheet with six points, seven rebounds, four assists and four steals in her debut.
 
In addition to Beasley, fellow Montana State transfer Leia Beattie made her Lumberjack debut with six points, three rebounds and a steal. A trio of true freshman in Allie Cummins, Ava Schmidt and Reilly Clark also donned the Blue and Gold for the first time.
 
Additionally, fifth year senior Emily Rodabaugh became NAU's 21^st member of the 1,000-career point club on Monday night. She enters Friday's game with 175 made threes in her career which is third on NAU's all-time career three-pointers list, needing just 19 more to break the all-time record.
 
Following Friday's game, the Lumberjacks return to Flagstaff to prepare for their home opener on Wednesday, Nov. 15 against Benedictine Mesa. Tipoff is set for 6 p.m. inside the Rolle Activity Center. After the opener, Northern Arizona plays at UCSD on Sunday, Nov. 19 at 3 p.m. before taking a brief break for the Thanksgiving holiday.