SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. (Dec. 9, 2023) – The Northern Arizona University women's basketball team overcame a slow start and finished strong with a 92-76 victory at San Francisco on Saturday afternoon.
NAU trailed 28-22 after the first quarter and were down a point at the half before outscoring the Dons 49-32 in the second half for its second-straight win. The Lumberjacks have now won six out of their last seven games including four-straight away from Flagstaff, improving to 6-3 on the year while USF falls to 2-7.
The 6-3 start for NAU through the first nine games is the best start to a season since 2005-06.
Emily Rodabaugh had a milestone day, draining five three-pointers to break Northern Arizona's all-time three-pointers made record with 197 in her career. She passes Kim Winkfield (2002-07) and Amy Patton (2009-13) who held the previous record of 193. Additionally, with 17 points to lead the Jacks this afternoon, Rodabaugh is now 10
th on NAU's all-time scoring list with 1,103 career points.
It marked the second-straight game that the Lumberjacks have scored over 90 points, both coming in wins over West Coast Conference opponents. NAU now improves to 40-3 since 2018-19 when scoring over 80 points.
Rodabaugh led a squad of five Lumberjacks who reached double-digit scoring.
Sophie Glancey turned in her first double-double of the season with 16 points and 11 rebounds, making 7-of-11 from the field. Tayor Feldman scored a season-high 13 points off the bench and led the team with six assists.
Nyah Moran (12 points) and
Olivia Moran (10 points) rounded things out with double-digit performances in their home state.
Grace Beasley nearly earned a triple-double with eight points, seven rebounds and five assists while
Leia Beattie finished with seven points and nine rebounds.
Northern Arizona was plus-ten in the rebounding category, pulling down 16 offensive boards to USF's six. The Lumberjacks drained a season-high 12 three-pointers and turned the ball over just 10 times which is a season-low. Nineteen of NAU's 34 field goals were assisted, and it forced 14 turnovers that were turned into 19 points.
"I'm proud of the team to get this tough road win against a scrappy San Francisco team. They came out super aggressive on offense and we responded with poise and resilience," said head coach
Loree Payne. "We were consistent through the entire 40 minutes and did a great job of taking care of the ball. Nineteen assists to 10 turnovers along with 16 offensive rebounds is a coach's dream. I am also excited for Emily and her continued climb through the record books."
The Lumberjacks got off to a slow start offensively, shooting just 39 percent from the field in the first quarter. The Dons made 11-of-16 from the field to shoot 69 percent and take a 28-22 lead into the second quarter, making six of its last seven attempts from the field.
After USF's lead stretched to 30-22,
Nyah Moran sparked the NAU offense with consecutive three pointers. Feldman joined in with a triple of her own, making it a 9-0 run as the Lumberjacks took their first lead of the game, 31-30. The lead would change three more times during the second quarter, as the Dons responded with a 6-0 run and retook a 36-31 lead.
Rodabaugh strung together five points of her own, three of which came from three-point range to tie NAU's all-time three-pointers record while also cracking the top-ten on the all-time scoring list, to put Northern Arizona back up 43-40. The Dons got the final say, scoring the last four points of the half. Despite NAU shooting 39 percent in the first 20 minutes compared to 53 percent for USF, the Lumberjacks trailed by just a point, 44-43, at the half.
Northern Arizona out-scored San Francisco 21-16 in the second quarter and were led by
Nyah Moran with 12 points at the half.
Using a 4-0 run to start the second half, the Lumberjacks pulled ahead 47-44 and kept the Dons off the board until the 6:56 mark. After the contest moved into a 53-53 tie, Northern Arizona built its largest lead of the game with another quick 4-0 run. The Lumberjack defense held the Dons without a field goal for nearly four minutes, as an
Olivia Moran triple put NAU ahead 60-55. The lead was cut down quickly, as USF continued to hang around and the game locked back into a 60-60 tie. Rodabaugh hit her third triple of the game and Beasley was a perfect two-for-two from the free throw line to end the third quarter, as NAU led 65-60 with 10 minutes remaining.
NAU once again outscored USF 22-16 in the third quarter and put together its best frame offensively thus far, shooting 44.4 percent (8-18) from the field while holding the Dons to 31.3 percent.
Olivia Moran and Rodabaugh helped the Lumberjacks regain control with early three-pointers to start the fourth as NAU built a lead of 71-63. By the five-minute mark, the Lumberjacks led 76-65 after Feldman's second three-pointer of the day. Northern Arizona finished strong, shooting 52.6 percent (10-19) from the field with five three-pointers to outscore the Dons 27-16 in the final frame as USF only shot 38.5 percent from the field with five field goals in the final quarter.
Northern Arizona now has over a week off for finals and will resume play on Monday, Dec. 18 at Pepperdine. Tipoff is set for 3 p.m. Mountain Standard time in Malibu, Calif. The Waves are 2-8 and have lost seven-straight heading into its Dec. 16 matchup against CSU Bakersfield before hosting NAU.
