GREELEY, Colo. (March 1, 2025) – The Northern Arizona women's basketball team won its sixth-straight game tonight, beating Northern Colorado by a score of 80-70 in Greeley, Colo.
NAU wins its ninth-straight over the Bears and fourth-straight in Greeley, improving to 24-6 on the season and 15-2 in Big Sky Conference play. It matches the single-season conference wins record with one game left to play and extends the single-season overall wins record out to 24, just one away from tying the all-time wins record. Northern Colorado drops to 13-15 and 6-11.
Four players scored in double figures, led by
Taylor Feldman with 21 points on 5-of-10 from the field, 4-of-5 from three-point range, and 7-of-8 from free throw range.
Leia Beattie scored 16 points on 6-of-12 from the field and 4-of-8 from three-point range, grabbing six rebounds, dishing a team-high four assists and added a block.
Nyah Moran scored 12 points on 5-of-9 from the field and added two blocks.
Sophie Glancey rounded things out with 12 points and eight rebounds, plus two blocks and two steals.
Ava Schmidt also scored eight points and had seven rebounds.
Northern Arizona shot 46.2 percent from three-point range, making 12-of-18 from a distance, 10 of which came in the first half. UNC shot 35.5 percent, making 4-of-12 from three-point range. Both teams had 46 rebounds each. Northern Arizona led 48-27 at the half, but were outscored 43-32 in the second half.
"I'm really proud of the team and their ability to get this big win on the road. We are so excited to come home and celebrate our seniors on Monday night," said head coach
Loree Payne.
Northern Arizona made five three-pointers in the first quarter.
Leia Beattie and
Nyah Moran hit two early, giving NAU an early 10-4. After a long scoring drought for both teams,
Allie Cummins and
Taylor Feldman hit consecutive threes to push the lead out to 16-10. After the Bears strung together five quick points, Beattie hit a triple with six seconds left to help NAU lead 19-15 after holding UNC to 26.3 percent from the field in the first quarter.
Beattie continued strong into the second quarter, hitting her third triple to lead 22-15. In fact, the three-pointers didn't stop as Feldman hit two more in the second quarter that punched the lead out to 10 points. A bucket from
Ava Schmidt followed by a coast-to-coast layup for Feldman forced the Bears to call for a timeout as the Lumberjacks eclipsed a double-digit lead at 36-25. Northern Arizona would wind up outscoring the Bears 29-12 during the second quarter, using a 14-0 run and making 11-of-21 from the field and 5-for-10 from three-point range.
At the half, the Lumberjacks held a comfortable 48-27 lead. Feldman led the way with 11 points, making 3-of-3 from three-point range. Glancey added 10 points, and Beattie had nine. Northern Arizona shot 50 percent from the field and 52.6 from three-point range in the first 20 minutes.
Feldman got things started in the second half with another three-pointer, but the three-ball would slow down for the Lumberjacks from there. Northern Colorado didn't score until the 7:41 mark, and thanks to eight points from Feldman, NAU led 66-46 heading into the fourth.
Northern Colorado refused to back down, outscoring NAU 24-14 in the fourth quarter. The Lumberjacks were out-rebounded 15-8 in the final frame and turned the ball over seven times. However, they still shot 46.2 percent from the field compared to 40 percent for the Bears and were able to hold on to the 80-70 win thanks to the first half cushion.
Northern Arizona returns home for Senior Day to celebrate
Nyah Moran,
Olivia Moran and
Leia Beattie on Monday, March 3 against Idaho State at 6 p.m. Mountain Standard time at the Skydome.
