| Northern Arizona Women's Basketball |
FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (Nov. 19, 2024) – The Northern Arizona women's basketball team will play host to in-state foe Arizona this Wednesday, Nov. 20 at the Rolle Activity Center in Flagstaff, Ariz. Tip-off is set for 6 p.m. Mountain Standard time on ESPN+, and tickets are available here.
NAU is 3-1 for the first time since 2020-21 while the Wildcats, in their first season with the Big-12, are a perfect 5-0. With a win, the Lumberjacks can improve to 4-1 for the first time since 2018-19.
It's the seventh meeting in the last eight seasons between the two, with Arizona winning five-straight and holding a 30-7 lead in the series. In 2017-18, the Lumberjacks topped the Wildcats in Flagstaff by a score of 84-66 but Arizona got its revenge the last time it visited Flagstaff in 2020-21, winning 82-55 when ranked No. 4.
Last season, Northern Arizona traveled to Tucson for its second game of the year and lost 87-64.
Nyah Moran led the Lumberjacks with 11 points in the loss.
Northern Arizona is 1-0 at home this year after topping Fort Lewis last Monday. Most recently, the Lumberjacks traveled to Stockton, Calif., where they won their fifth-straight game over a West Coast Conference opponent after a 68-63 victory over Pacific.
Sophie Glancey and
Nyah Moran were instrumental in the win, leading the way with 24 and 23 points, respectively. Glancey scored 10 of her 24 points in the fourth quarter while
Nyah Moran had 12 first half points and was a perfect 4-for-4 from the free throw line in the final minute of the game to help the Lumberjacks secure the victory.
Glancey, the Big Sky Preseason MVP who has already claimed weekly honors from the conference, ranks first in the league in scoring with 17.3 points per game and is second in rebounding with 8.8. She has secured a double-double in two out of the last three games and has scored in double figures in all four contests this year. She is shooting 57.1 percent from the field to ranks second in the Big Sky and is third in blocks per game with 1.3.
Nyah Moran follows Glancey with 17.0 points per game, good for second in the league. The senior is third in the Big Sky with 10 three-pointers made so far this year, scoring in double figures in three out of four games with nine in the other.
Leia Beattie has dished at least six assists in three games this year and is coming off a career-high eight at Pacific, ranking 23
rd nationally with 6.0 per game. She is averaging 10.7 points per game and ranks fifth in the Big Sky in three-point percentage (.409) and is sixth with nine three-pointers made.
Taylor Feldman rounds out the scoring with 10.0 points per game.
As a team, Northern Arizona leads the league with 80.0 points per game but is 10
th with 73.5 points allowed per game. The Lumberjacks knock down a conference-high nine three-pointers per contest which also ranks 32
nd nationally. They have made 10 or more triples in two contests. NAU also leads the contest in assist/turnover ratio with 1.30, dishing a league-high 19.5 assists per contest.
Arizona is 5-0 on the year and are coming off an 84-48 victory at Chicago State on Saturday. Prior to that, it handed UNLV its first loss of the season, 75-66. The Lumberjacks lost to UNLV 85-71 on Nov. 7 in Las Vegas. The Wildcats are averaging 71.8 points per game and outscoring their opponents by 19.6 points per contest, allowing just 52.2 points per game.
The Wildcats finished 18-16 overall last year with an 8-10 mark in their last season with the Pac-12. Two players average double figures for Arizona, led by Breya Cunningham with 13.4 points per game and Lauryn Swann who adds 10.2.
Wednesday marks the final home game of November for Northern Arizona. The Lumberjacks go on to face another Mountain West Conference foe in Colorado State on Saturday, Nov. 23 at 6 p.m. MST in Fort Collins, Colo.
