FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (Dec. 6, 2023) – Six players scored in double figures as the Northern Arizona University women's basketball team earned a dominating win over Pacific, 96-65, at the Rolle Activity Center in front of over 900 local elementary school students for Youth Day.
The Lumberjacks improve to 5-3 on the season and have won five out of their last six games. The Tigers, who play in the West Coast Conference, drop to 5-4. Northern Arizona has now won 20 of its last 24 games in Rolle and improve to 39-3 since 2018-19 when scoring at least 80 points, as 96 points marked a season-high for NAU.
In an incredibly balanced showing,
Sophie Glancey led all players with 18 points on 6-of-10 from the field with seven rebounds.
Emily Rodabaugh stuffed the stat sheet, making a perfect 2-of-2 from three-point range and 6-of-6 from the free throw line. Rodabaugh added a game-high nine rebounds, seven assists and two blocks. The fifth-year senior is now two three-pointers away from breaking NAU's all-time record and is also just a point away from cracking the top-ten scoring list.
Leia Beattie led the team in steals with two and added 12 points of 4-of-8 from the field.
Olivia Moran added 11 points and
Grace Beasley scored 10 while dishing out five assists. True freshman
Allie Cummins made 4-of-5 from the field for 10 points, and
Nyah Moran rounded things out with nine points.
The Lumberjacks drained 11-of-20 (55%) from three-point range, as eight players made a shot from deep, and shot above 40 percent in every quarter. Northern Arizona also dominated on the boards, 48-to-37.
"I'm really proud of the team. I think is probably the most complete game we've put together thus far. We have a bunch of game goals, and we always say that green gets it, red doesn't get it, and yellow got close, and we're pretty much in the green for most of our game goals which is awesome because we haven't really had a complete game like that this season yet," said head coach
Loree Payne. "Pacific is a really good team. They're playing people close and playing power-five schools close. This was a really great team win for us."
After an early 7-7 tie,
Nyah Moran hit a triple to put the Jacks up by three. By the media timeout, NAU led 12-9 after the Tigers missed five-straight field goals. A 9-0 run helped the Lumberjacks build their largest lead of 18-10 and Northern Arizona led 23-18 after the first quarter. Fourteen of NAU's first 23 points came in the paint.
A 7-0 run in the second quarter that included four points from Cummins helped the Lumberjacks build a lead of 37-24 – their largest of the day. Northern Arizona shot 44 percent (17-39) from the field and held the Tigers to 37 percent (15-41) in the first half, including just 7-of-23 (30.4) in the second quarter. After the first 20 minutes, NAU led 48-37.
Northern Arizona did not let up to start the second half, opening on a 9-2 run to lead 57-39 by the seven-minute mark. By the media timeout, NAU had outscored the Tigers 16-to-6 and a 7-0 run nearly put the game out of reach with a 64-43 lead for the Lumberjacks. NAU outscored Pacific 26-to-16 in the third quarter and shot 52.9 percent from the field to carry a 74-53 advantage into the fourth quarter.
Despite not scoring a field goal for nearly four minutes of the fourth quarter, the Lumberjacks forced five turnovers during the scoreless spell to keep Pacific away. A 6-0 run help seal the victory after NAU shot 46 percent from the field and held the Tigers to 25 percent, making just three field goals.
Northern Arizona travels to face another WCC foe on Saturday, Dec. 9, facing San Francisco at 3 p.m. Mountain Standard time.
