FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (Jan. 31, 2025) – The Northern Arizona women's basketball team will close the first half of Big Sky Conference play and begin the second half with a pair of games this week at Findlay Toyota Court in Flagstaff.
Northern Arizona opens the month of February with a contest against Northern Colorado on Saturday, Feb. 1 at 2 p.m. Mountain Standard time before playing a rare Monday night game against Weber State on Sunday, Feb. 3 at 6 p.m. MST.
Heading into this week, the Lumberjacks have won four-straight and are 16-5 on the season and 7-1 in conference action, currently sitting in second in the Big Sky standings.
Last week, NAU beat Eastern Washington and Idaho at home. Northern Arizona led by just a point at the half against EWU in what served as a championship game rematch from a year ago. In the third quarter, the Eagles pulled ahead 43-39 for their largest lead of the night. NAU then went on a 13-0 run to lead 52-47 heading into the fourth and never looked back. After EWU took the lead with 6:03 left in the third, it only made five more field goals for the rest of regulation. NAU outscored the Eagles 40-29 in the second half, limiting EWU to 7-of-31 (22.5%) from the field.
Against Idaho, NAU won 106-76. The offensive output was just the second time in program history that NAU has scored over 100 points in a regulation Big Sky Conference game and the first since 2002. The Lumberjacks drained 17 three-pointers for a single-game NAU record and had eight blocks in the victory, shooting over 53 percent from the field and three-point range.
Sophie Glancey was instrumental in both wins and earned her fourth Big Sky Player of the Week award and the seventh of her career, giving Northern Arizona seven weekly honors in 12 weeks. Glancey leads the Big Sky with 17.8 points per game and field goal percentage (50%) while ranking fourth in rebounds (9.2 rpg). Glancey has 11 double-doubles on the year, which ranks eighth nationally. She is also 35
th in the country in total blocks, 23
rd in field goals made, 31
st in total rebounds, and 33
rd in total points.
Just a junior, Glancey is already rewriting NAU's career record books 90 games into her career. She currently ranks ninth in points (1,193), eighth in scoring average (13.3 ppg), tied for seventh in field goals made (476), fifth in field goal percentage (51.7%), 10
th in rebounding average (6.7) and seventh in blocks (89). She is one rebound away from 600 in her career.
Four Lumberjacks average double figures, with
Taylor Feldman ranking second in the Big Sky in points per game with 16.9. Feldman has earned three Player of the Week nods and has scored in double figures in 11 of her last 12 games. She also ranks fourth in the league in free throw percentage (85.3%), sixth with 34 three-pointers made, sixth with 3.6 assists per game and sixth in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.4).
Another offensive weapon is
Nyah Moran who ranks ninth in the conference in scoring with 12.3 points per game. She's coming off consecutive double-digit scoring games and made a career-high five triples against Idaho.
Leia Beattie rounds things out with 10.4 points per game and is one of the conference's and nation's best three-point shooters. She leads the league in three-point percentage (40.8%), three-pointers made (49) and three-pointers per game (2.3).
Olivia Moran has scored in double figures in three out of the last four games and averages 9.3 per game while
Saniyah Neverson averages 7.5 points and 8.0 rebounds off the bench.
On the season, the Lumberjacks are averaging 81.0 points per game, which is the 16
th best in the country. They allow 73.2 overall on the season, but just 68.0 points per game in conference play. The Lumberjacks are one of the best rebounding teams in the country, ranking 15
th with 42.71 per game and ninth in defensive rebounds with 30.2 per contest. Additionally, NAU ranks 17
th in free throws made per game (15.67) and 23
rd in three-pointers made per game (8.7).
Northern Arizona has won seven-straight games over Northern Colorado entering Saturday's game. In Flagstaff, the Lumberjacks trail 12-7 but have won two-straight over UNC dating back to the 2022-23 season. Last season, both games were closed and decided by six or less points. When the Bears visited Flagstaff, NAU snuck out a 76-72 victory following a game-winner from
Olivia Moran when the game was tied 72-72 with 7.8 seconds left. The Lumberjacks forced 22 turnovers in the win and only committed six.
Northern Colorado is 9-10 on the season and 2-6 in Big Sky Conference play, recently beating Eastern Washington last Saturday. On the road, the Bears are 2-7 this season. They are the best shooting team in the conference, knocking down 42.6 percent of its shots alongside NAU who shoots at a 42.4 percent clip. Defensively, UNC allows 60 points per game.
Weber State ranks fourth in the Big Sky standings, sitting at 7-11 on the year and 4-4 in conference action. Northern Arizona will go for the season sweep over the Wildcats and have won 14-straight over WSU. In Flagstaff, NAU leads 25-19. Earlier this season, Northern Arizona cruised to a 92-78 victory at Weber State behind a career-high 22 points from
Olivia Moran.
Leia Beattie added 17 points and didn't miss in the win, going 6-for-6 from the field and 4-for-4 from three-point range.
The Lumberjacks head back out onto the road to face Montana State and Montana. NAU will look to avenge an earlier loss this season to the Bobcats on Feb. 6 before going for a sweep of the Griz on Feb. 8.
