FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (Dec. 4, 2024) – Playing a matinee game in front of hundreds of local elementary school students, the Northern Arizona women's basketball team won its seventh-straight game after topping Oral Roberts by a score of 87-80 on Wednesday in Flagstaff, Ariz., at the Rolle Activity center.
The victory propels NAU to its best start in program history at 8-1, while the Golden Eagles drop to 5-2 and end a five-game winning streak in both team's first matchup of the Big Sky-Summit Challenge.
There were also milestones all around, as head coach
Loree Payne tied Northern Arizona's all-time wins record with 117, tying Laurie Kelly from 2003-12. Additionally, senior
Nyah Moran scored 17 points to eclipse the 1,000-career point mark.
Nyah Moran also added a career-high seven assists and five rebounds on 7-of-13 from the field. She joined three other Lumberjacks in double figures, led by
Sophie Glancey who earned her fourth-straight double-double with 22 points and 10 rebounds on 10-of-18 from the field. On Saturday, Glancey will look to join Moran in the 1,000-career point club as she is just 16 points away.
Olivia Moran earned her second double-double of the season with 11 points and 12 rebounds, while
Leia Beattie rounded things out with 12 points, five rebounds, three assists and two steals. Both
Taylor Feldman and
Saniyah Neverson scored nine points, with Neverson leading the way with a team-high 14 rebounds.
"Another exciting win for our program. Oral Roberts is a really good team, and we knew that coming in that they were very similar to us in their style of play, and they've had a ton of success doing it. We knew it was going to be a battle today. We have two high-powered offensive teams, they scored 29 in a quarter, and we scored 32, so it was back-and-forth," said Payne. "I'm just proud of the team on being able to close it out and hit big shots down the stretch. Even though we were a little cold, I'm glad we had that buffer in the third quarter. We came out and did what we needed to do for the victory and I'm proud of the balanced scoring that we have again in a total team effort."
Northern Arizona made 10-of-20 from the field in the first quarter to lead 26-19 after the first 10 minutes, with Glancey contributing with 11 points to get NAU off to a strong start.
The tables turned in the second, and Oral Roberts shot 57.1 percent in the frame and held NAU to 42.9 percent to take a 48-43 lead into the half. The Golden Eagles forced 15 Lumberjack turnovers, 11 of which came in the second quarter that contributed to 14 points for ORU.
The Lumberjacks exploded for 32 points in the third, outscoring Oral Roberts 32-to-8 during the frame while shooting 66.7 percent (14-21) from the field and held the Golden Eagles to 14.3 percent on 3-of-21 from the field. NAU used an 11-0 run to start the fourth and led 75-56 heading into the fourth. Eight different players scored for the Lumberjacks in the third, as NAU made its first six shots from the field to start the third thanks to five points from
Olivia Moran.
Oral Roberts would do anything but back down, flipping the script and outscoring the Lumberjacks 24-12 in the final quarter of play, shooting 50 percent from the field and keeping the Lumberjacks to 29.4 percent. The Golden Eagles came out and used a 12-0 run to start the fourth, cutting the lead all the way down to seven points. With 2:22 left to play, Oral Roberts made it a five-point game. That would be as close as ORU would get, as a bucket with
Nyah Moran put the game out of reach with under a minute to play as NAU went on to win 87-80.
Northern Arizona is now 56-5 since 2018-19 when scoring at least 80 points, including a 34-2 record at home and a perfect 8-0 on the season.
The Lumberjacks dominated in the paint, outscoring ORU 52-to-39. The Golden Eagles forced 20 NAU turnovers and scored 17 points off the miscues, while the Lumberjacks forced 11. Both high-powered offenses scored over 22 fast break points.
Overall, Northern Arizona shot 48.6 percent (35-72) from the field, 30.8 percent (8-26) from three-point range and 64.3 percent (9-14) at the free throw line. For the Golden Eagles, they shot 40 percent from the field (32-80), 8-for-25 from behind the arc (32.0%) and were 8-of-14 at the charity stripe (57.1%).
Payne will go for NAU's all-time win record and the program's eighth-straight victory this Saturday, Dec. 7 as the Big Sky-Summit Challenge continues at South Dakota. The 2023-24 WNIT second-round rematch is set for 10 a.m. Mountain Standard time on Midco Sports Plus.
