FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (Feb. 3, 2025) – The Northern Arizona women's basketball team battled Weber State tonight at Findlay Toyota Court, defeating the Wildcats for the 15
th-straight time in an 81-76 victory.
It's the sixth-straight win for NAU, who ties its best start in Big Sky Conference play in program history at 9-1 and 18-5 on the season. Weber State, who played its third game in five days, drop to 8-12 and 5-5.
Taylor Feldman led all players with 27 points in just 25 minutes of action.
Sophie Glancey added a double-double of 23 points and 10 rebounds. Together, the two combined for 50 points and were 19-for-28 from the field. Feldman also dished a team-high five assists.
Off the bench,
Saniyah Neverson added 16 points, two steals and six rebounds of 7-of-12 from the field with two three-pointers.
Both teams shot 45 percent from the field, with NAU making nine three-pointers. At the free throw line, Weber State made 18-of-22 and the Lumberjacks went 12-for-15. For the second-straight game, NAU committed less than 10 turnovers with eight, forcing 12 and scoring 11 points off miscues.
"Kudos to Weber. They came in and put up a battle and played really, really, well. They've been playing well over the past five or six games and we knew it was going to be tough. But for them to play their third game in five days and come in and work as hard as they did and give us the challenge that they did, they're definitely headed in the right direction," said head coach
Loree Payne. "For us, we had a lot of unbalanced production, and we need to get back to that balanced production. Thank goodness Sophie, Taylor and Saniyah were hitting. I feel like we need to figure out how to get back into a rhythm offensively. Defensively, we had good moments, and we had challenging moments. It's always great to win at home and I think we'll learn a lot from this and be ready to play two tough ones this weekend."
Weber State came out and opened the game on a 13-2 run to take a 13-4 lead by the first quarter media timeout. WSU made three of its first four field goal attempts and held the Lumberjacks to just 1-of-7 from the field during that span. Feldman drained a triple to stop the bleeding and would go on a mini 5-0 run of her own, cutting the lead to 13-9. Northern Arizona began to settle in, and didn't allow WSU to make a three-pointer for the rest of the quarter. At the end of the first, NAU trailed 17-15.
NAU quickly tied the game 17-17 after a Glancey layup. Northern Arizona pulled ahead 25-21 before the game moved back into a 25-25 tie. The Lumberjacks made 5-of-6 field goals down the stretch and used a quick 5-0 run to pull ahead 30-25 for their largest lead of the game, forcing a Weber State timeout. The run would stretch to 7-0, and at the half, the Lumberjacks led 49-41 behind 21 points from Feldman. NAU shot 52.6 percent during the second, making 10 field goals, while the Wildcats shot 50 percent as well. Defensively, NAU forced 10 first half turnovers.
The Wildcats used a 7-4 run coming out of half to trim the lead down to single digits, 49-41. With three minutes to play, Northern Arizona was holding onto a 59-53 lead.
Audrey Taylor completed an old-fashioned four-point play that pushed the lead back out to double-digits, and despite being outscored 22-18 in the third, NAU still led 63-56 heading into the fourth.
Northern Arizona didn't allow Weber State to make a field goal for over six minutes of the fourth quarter, pulling ahead 74-61 during that span. With 3:49 left to play, the Wildcats trimmed the lead back down to single digits and by the two-minute mark, the Wildcats had made it a seven-point game, 79-72. Despite not making a field goal for the final three minutes, NAU stayed alive at the free throw line and hung on to the victory.
The Lumberjacks will look to spoil Montana State's 13-game winning streak and 10-0 undefeated conference record on Thursday night in Bozeman, Mont., at 7 p.m. Mountain Standard time. NAU then travels to Missoula, Mont., to go for the season sweep over the Griz on Saturday at 2 p.m. MST.
