| Northern Arizona Women's Basketball |
| GAME 8 |
Northern Arizona vs. Pacific (Wednesday, Dec. 6 | 12 p.m. MST) |
| FOLLOW |
ESPN+ | Live Stats |
| LOCATION |
Flagstaff, Ariz. | Rolle Activity Center |
| GAME NOTES |
Northern Arizona |
| GAME 9 |
Northern Arizona at San Francisco (Saturday, Dec. 9 | 3 p.m. MST) |
| FOLLOW |
ESPN+ | Live Stats |
| LOCATION |
San Francisco, Calif. | War Memorial at The Sobrato Center |
| GAME NOTES |
TBA |
FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (Dec. 5, 2023) – Back in action for the first time in a week, the Northern Arizona University women's basketball team hosts Pacific on Wednesday, Dec. 5 with a special noon tip for youth day at the Rolle Activity Center.
The matchup against the Tigers will kick off three-straight games against West Coast Conference opponents as the Lumberjacks travel to face San Francisco on Saturday, Dec. 9 at 3 p.m. MST and then have over a week off from competition before taking on Pepperdine on Monday, Dec. 18.
A LOOK AT THE LUMBERJACKS: Winners of four out of its last five games, Northern Arizona currently sits at 4-3 on the young season. The Lumberjacks picked up four-straight wins – three coming away from Flagstaff, before dropping a contest to undefeated UNLV last Wednesday.
NAU will look to get back to its winning ways at the Rolle Activity Center, a place where the Lumberjacks have won 19 out of their last 23 games. It will be the final game at Rolle this season before Northern Arizona moves to Findlay Toyota Court inside the Walkup Skydome on Dec. 30 for its Big Sky Conference opener against Northern Colorado.
Fifth-year senior guard
Emily Rodabaugh will have a chance to make history on Wednesday, as she needs just four more three-pointers to break NAU's all-time career three-point record. Rodabaugh has 190 in her career and will pass both Kim Winkfield (2002-07) and Amy Patton (2009-13) who hold the current record of 193.
Rodabaugh eclipsed 1,000 career points in the season-opener at Oregon and is now sitting at 1,074 in her career, needing just 13 more to crack the top-ten on NAU's all-time scoring list. She is currently averaging 10.7 points and a team-high 5.1 rebounds per game and ranks fourth in the Big Sky with 15 made three-pointers on the season.
Sophomore
Sophie Glancey has scored in double figures in four-straight games heading into Wednesday and leads the team with 11.4 per contest. Glancey scored a career-high 26 points in a win over Youngstown State on Nov. 25 and is shooting 50.8 percent from the field while adding 4.9 rebounds and 1.0 blocks per game.
Leia Beattie has been stuffing the stat sheet all season long and is currently averaging 10.3 points, 4.4 rebounds, 2.9 assists and 2.1 steals per game.
As a team, the Lumberjacks have the fourth highest-scoring offense in the conference with 69.4 points per game. The NAU defense leads the conference with 4.43 blocks per game and ranks third in steals per game with 9.57. The Lumberjacks dish the second-most amount of assists in the conference with 16.00 and have an assist-to-turnover ratio of .096 which is also second.
Nationally, NAU ranks in the top-100 in blocks per game (57
th, 4.4), assists per game (59
th, 16.0), three-point attempts per game (65
th, 23.6), assist-to-turnover ratio (93
rd, .96) and turnovers forced per game (95
th, 18.6).
SERIES HISTORY WITH PACIFIC: Pacific and Northern Arizona haven't met since Dec. 7, 2006, where the Lumberjacks won 74-59 in Flagstaff. That same season, NAU advanced to its first and only NCAA tournament appearance. Northern Arizona leads the all-time series, 3-2. Besides the first meeting in 1987, the Lumberjacks and Tigers met four times from 2002-03 to 2006-07 with NAU winning three out of the four.
A LOOK AT THE TIGERS: Pacific, a member of the WCC, is 5-3 on the year and are coming off a 79-78 win against Temple on Saturday. The Tigers were in action at the Briann January Classic where they finished 1-1 with a 76-66 loss to the hosts, Arizona State. Elizabeth Elliott led the team with consecutive double-doubles.
The Tigers were predicted to finish third by the coaches in the WCC preseason poll after finishing 15-17 (8-10 WCC) a year ago. Pacific averages 69 points per game, just like the Lumberjacks, and hold opponents to 67.1 percent from the field.
Five players average double figures for the Tigers, led by Liz Smith with 14.8 points and 4.4 assists per game.
SERIES HISTORY WITH SAN FRANCISCO: Northern Arizona will be looking for its first win in program history over San Francisco on Saturday as it trails the all-time series 0-4. The Lumberjacks and the Dons haven't met on the basketball court since the 1997 season and only twice since NAU joined the Big Sky Conference.
A LOOK AT THE DONS: The Dons also compete in the WCC and were picked seventh in the preseason poll by the coaches. San Francisco is 2-6 on the year with its two victories coming over Stanislaus State and Yale. It has lost two-straight games to Colorado State and Washington, and although SF is 0-6 away from its home arena, it's a perfect 2-0 at home so far this year.
Jasmine Gayles was named preseason All-WCC and currently leads the Dons with 15.8 points per game. Debora dos Santos nearly averages a double-double with 11.4 points and 8.8 rebounds.
San Francisco averages 62.8 points per game and are solid on the perimeter, averaging 6.8 triples per contest. It averages 39.5 rebounds per game, three and a half more than its opponents, but turn the ball over 19.3 times per game.
LAST TIME OUT: The Lumberjacks hosted UNLV at Rolle on Wednesday, Nov. 29 and fell 85-69 in a hard-fought game. Both squads got off to a hot start and shot over 60 percent from the field in the first quarter as NAU trailed 30-28 after the first ten minutes. By half, NAU fell behind 51-43 and trailed by as many as 17 points in the third quarter.
However, an 11-0 run that included six-straight points from
Taylor Feldman off the bench helped the Lumberjacks cut the lead down to two points in the fourth quarter. The Rebels fended off NAU with a 14-0 run to close the game, keeping the Lumberjacks off the scoreboard for the final five minutes in the loss.
Four players scored in double figures, led by
Leia Beattie and
Emily Rodabaugh with 13 points apiece.
Taylor Feldman and
Sophie Glancey each added 11, while
Saniyah Neverson finished with 10 rebounds, four blocks and six points.
The Lumberjacks forced 16 turnovers and only committed 11 while the bench added 24 points. NAU blocked the Rebels seven times but were out-rebounded 46-to-31.
UP NEXT: Northern Arizona will take a week off for finals before resuming action at Pepperdine on Dec. 18 at 3 p.m. in Malibu, Calif. It's then on to former Big Sky foe Southern Utah on Dec. 21 for the final game before the holidays. The Lumberjacks return to Flagstaff to host Northern Colorado on Saturday, Dec. 30 at 2 p.m. in the Walkup Skydome at Findlay Toyota Court.
