CHENEY, Wash. (Feb. 22, 2025) – The Northern Arizona women's basketball team completed another Big Sky Conference road sweep with an 88-77 win over Eastern Washington on Saturday afternoon in Cheney, Wash.
The victory gives the Lumberjacks the season sweep over the Eagles and snaps a two-game skid on the road in Cheney. Northern Arizona is now 23-6 on the year and 14-2 in Big Sky play. Eastern Washington falls to 10-17 and 6-9 in conference play. Northern Arizona is now 14-1 this season when scoring over 80 points.
Sophie Glancey led NAU with 25 points and 12 rebounds, collecting her 15
th double-double in 29 games and her fourth-straight on 10-of-20 from the field. She also recorded a career-high six blocks, the most by a Lumberjack in a game since 2016.
Taylor Feldman scored 17 points and flirted with a double-double with a season-high seven assists.
Nyah Moran scored in double figures as well, making 4-of-9 from the field for 15 points while dishing six assists.
Olivia Moran rounded out the double-digit scoring with 14 points on 5-of-10 from the field with five rebounds.
Leia Beattie scored eight points and contributed with five rebounds and four assists, while
Saniyah Neverson grabbed 12 rebounds.
Twenty-one of Glancey's points came in the second half, while
Nyah Moran went off for 13 points in the second half as well.
The Lumberjacks trailed 40-33 at the half after shooting just 20 percent in the second quarter. Out of the break, NAU shot 66.7 percent in the third to retake the lead and never looked back, outscoring the Eagles 55-37 in the second half after shooting 54.8 percent with eight triples as Northern Arizona scored 34 points in the third quarter alone.
"We got better today as a team and that is a great feeling with Boise only two weeks away. We faced some adversity throughout the game and united together to overcome it. I'm so proud of our tenacity on the boards and our toughness defensively," said head coach
Loree Payne.
Northern Arizona came out and made six of its first 11 field goal attempts in the first quarter to lead 15-9 as five different players found the scoring column early. The Lumberjacks shot 41 percent during the first quarter, but didn't make a field goal for the final 2:30 as EWU closed the quarter on a 4-0 run. Despite the scoring lull, NAU led 20-15 heading into the second.
It was a slow offensive second quarter for the Lumberjacks, as they were outscored 25-13. Eastern Washington went on a 10-0 run and kept NAU without a field goal for the final 5:13 of the second quarter, as the Lumberjacks went 1-for-16 from the field during that span. At the half, Northern Arizona trailed 40-33.
The Lumberjacks turned things around and hit five straight field goals to start the half, cutting the lead down to 48-46 after opening the quarter on a 13-8 run. A three pointer from
Nyah Moran and
Olivia Moran plus a layup from Glancey made it an 8-0 run for the Lumberjacks, as they retook the lead 51-48 to force the Eagles to call for a timeout.
NAU went on a 13-2 run over just 3:05 of play, and another 7-0 run gave the 'Jacks a 58-50 lead. The Eagles would cut the lead down to four points after a mini 6-2 run, but Northern Arizona stayed composed. It was quite the turnaround in the third, as NAU went on a stretch where it made 12-of-14 from the field. After another 7-0 spurt that was capped by an
Ava Schmidt triple in her home state, Northern Arizona pulled ahead 67-56. Northern Arizona outscored the Eagles 34-18 – the most in a quarter against a DI opponent this season – in the third, leading 67-58 heading into the fourth.
Eastern Washington used a quick 5-0 run to trim NAU's lead down to 74-67 with 5:18 left to play in the fourth after the Lumberjacks turned the ball over three times in a minute, forcing Northern Arizona to call a timeout. Out of the break, a Beattie three-pointer extended the lead back out to 10 points.
With 2:35 to play, Northern Arizona led 78-69. With 1:05 to go, the Eagles cut the lead down to single digits for a brief moment, but never got closer, as NAU had the 21-19 edge in the fourth to hold onto the victory.
Northern Arizona crashed the boards and won the rebounding battle, 46-to-34. Twenty-four of its 28 field goals were assisted. The Lumberjacks shot 41.2 percent (28-68) from the field and 11-of-29 (37.9%) from three-point range to go with 21-for-24 at the charity stripe. Eastern Washington shot 41.7 percent from the field (30-72) and just 25 percent (3-16) from three-point range, plus 13-for-17 at the free throw line.
The Lumberjacks have a week off before their final regular season road game at Northern Colorado on Saturday, March 1 at 6 p.m. Mountain Standard time.
