FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (Jan. 11, 2025) – The Northern Arizona women's basketball team played host to Montana State this afternoon at Findlay Toyota Court in Flagstaff, Ariz., falling by a final score of 87-81.
The Bobcats handed the Lumberjacks their first loss of Big Sky Conference play, as NAU drops to 12-5 on the year and 3-1 in conference action. Montana State remains undefeated in the Big Sky, improving to 4-0 and 14-2 on the year. It snapped a four-game winning streak over MSU and an eight-game winning streak at home dating back to the 2023-24 season.
Sophie Glancey earned her 10
th double-double of the season with 21 points and 13 rebounds. Additionally, she cracked Northern Arizona's all-time scoring list, now ranking 10
th all-time with 1,119 career points. She is also now 10
th in carer field goals made (443) and ninth in career blocks (80), after making 6-of-12 from the field and adding three swats.
Glancey led three other Lumberjacks in double figures, as
Nyah Moran added 19 points, seven rebounds, four assists and two steals on 7-of-13 from the field.
Taylor Feldman also scored 20 points and dished a team-high five assists, making 6-of-14 from the field and 7-of-7 from the free throw line.
Leia Beattie rounded things out with 12 points, making 2-of-5 from three-point range.
The Bobcats were led by Esmeralda Morales who scored 30 points on 9-of-17 from the field and 4-of-9 from three-point range.
"Obviously, that's a tough loss, but Montana State is an incredible team, and they played probably the best game they've played all year. We've watched a lot of film on them, and individually, they had some players who made some incredible shots. It's the best game Esmeralda Morales has had in a Montana State uniform, she came in and hit some really big shots," said head coach
Loree Payne. "I felt like we had a lot of balanced scoring as well, but they just had a little bit more consistency and had a little more today. It's exciting that the league is where it's at. That you have two pretty good teams battling and I felt like they were at their A-game and were at a B, maybe a C+ today."
The Lumberjacks came out confident and led 22-11 after the first quarter. NAU led 8-2 following an 8-0 run and ended the quarter on a 5-0 run after a layup from Feldman and a three-pointer from Glancey. Northern Arizona shot 47.4 percent (9-19) from the field and the held the Bobcats to 29.4 percent (5-17) during the first 10 minutes. The Lumberjacks led by as many as 11 in the first and won the rebounding battle 13-to-9 behind nine early points from Glancey.
Montana State came out in the second quarter and opened on a 13-0 run to retake a 25-22 lead in less than three minutes. NAU didn't make a field goal until the 6:18 mark following a triple by
Nyah Moran to knot the game up at 25-25. The score was tied again at 27-27, but once the Bobcats retook the lead, they never relinquished it. After being outscored 30-to-16 in the second, NAU only trailed 41-38 at the half.
In the third, Northern Arizona was held to 25 percent (4-16) from the field and were outscored 24-18 to trail 65-56 heading into the fourth.
The Lumberjacks put together their best offensive and defensive quarter in the fourth, refusing to backdown. They would make 63.6 percent from the field (7-11) and held MSU to just 33 percent. NAU trailed by as many as 13 points in the fourth quarter and trimmed the lead down to five points on four different occasions, but the Bobcats seemed to have an answer for everything en route to securing the 87-81 victory.
Northern Arizona turned the ball over 17 times which resulted in 24 points for the Bobcats. The Lumberjacks forced 15 of their own but only scored 15 points off of them. On the night, NAU shot 42.6 percent from the field compared to 41.4 percent for MSU. The Bobcats drained 11 triples, making 11-of-20, while NAU was held to 7-of-20. At the charity stripe, MSU shot 78.3 percent (18-23) and the Lumberjacks made 22-of-25 (88%). The Bobcats won the rebounding battle, 44-to-38.
NAU is back out on the road next week, traveling to Sacramento State (Jan. 16) and Portland State (Jan. 18).
