BOISE, Idaho (March 12, 2024) – The Northern Arizona University women's basketball team advances to its third-straight Big Sky Conference Championship game after a 74-67 victory over No. 3 Montana today in the semifinals.
The No. 2 seeded Lumberjacks will face No. 1 Eastern Washington in tomorrow's championship game at 2 p.m. Mountain Standard time on ESPNU and ESPN+.
Following today's win, NAU improves to 25-8 on the season while the Grizzlies end their year 22-9. The Lumberjacks and the Griz split the regular season meetings with each picking up a win on the road, and Northern Arizona has now won three-straight over UM in the postseason.
Boise native
Sophie Glancey led the Lumberjacks with 21 points and 11 rebounds for her sixth double-double of the season and third-straight, making 8-of-12 from the field to go with three assists.
Grace Beasley scored 18 points, draining three triples, and added seven rebounds and three assists.
Leia Beattie, on her birthday, scored 13 points after making 6-of-9 from the field.
Northern Arizona led by as many as 13 points during the game, heading into halftime up 38-29. The Lumberjacks led for 34:59 of the contest and shot 44.3 percent from the field while holding the Griz to 36.4 percent. At the free throw line, NAU was 7-for-9 while Montana was 10-for-14. From three-point range, the Lumberjacks made 5-of-20 compared to 9-of-32 for UM.
The 'Jacks won the rebounding battle, 43-36, and outscored Montana in the paint 42-30. Montana forced nine turnovers, but did not score any points off them, while NAU forced 11 and scored seven points off the miscues. The bench also outscored the Grizzlies 14-5, led by
Olivia Moran who scored eight points and
Saniyah Neverson who added six.
Beasley scored the first five points for the Lumberjacks to give NAU an early lead after the Griz went 0-for-3 from the field to start. Northern Arizona was then held scoreless for 4:43 of the quarter while the Griz took their first and only lead, 8-7.
Nyah Moran finally snapped the scoring spell with a driving layup, putting the advantage back into NAU's hands for good. The basket would spur a 6-0 run to end the quarter, holding the Griz scoreless for the final four minutes to take a 13-8 lead into the second quarter after Montana missed its final five field goal attempts.
Defensively, NAU held the Griz to 18 percent in the first quarter as they went just 3-for-17 from the field and 1-for-9 from three-point range.
The Lumberjack offense started to heat up in the second quarter, using a 7-0 run to pull away 26-14. The Griz made just 1-of-8 from the field down the stretch, allowing NAU to lead 28-17 by the media timeout. Montana would trim the lead down to single digits, but a 5-of-7 spurt from the 'Jacks made it a 12-point lead once again with a minute to play.
At the half, NAU led 38-29. The Lumberjacks outscored the Griz 25-21 in the second quarter, shooting 58.8 percent (10-17) from the field and a perfect 5-for-5 from the free throw line. Northern Arizona scored 28 points in the paint during the first half and were led by Glancey who had nine points and eight rebounds.
A Beattie triple got the Lumberjacks started in the third, but the Griz started to heat up and made three three-pointers to cut the lead to 44-40, opening on an 11-6 run. With two minutes left to play in the third, the game moved into a 51-51 tie. The tie would not last long, as NAU strung together a 4-0 run from
Nyah Moran and
Saniyah Neverson to pull back ahead 55-51. After being outscored 24-17 during the third, the Lumberjacks held onto to a 55-53 lead heading into the fourth.
Montana shot 53.3 percent from the field during the third while NAU shot just 35 percent.
Glancey banked in a three-pointer to spark a 5-0 Lumberjack run to start the fourth quarter. The Griz returned the favor with a 6-0 run to cut the lead to 60-59 before a Beasley triple put a stop to the run. With three minutes remaining, Northern Arizona led 72-66. The Lumberjacks shot 61.5 percent from the field during the fourth, holding the Griz to 26.7 percent.
Northern Arizona and Eastern Washington have faced off twice in the conference tournament, with the Lumberjacks winning 74-57 in last year's semifinals. The two squads split the regular season, each picking up a victory on the road.
