TUCSON, Ariz. (March 20, 2025) – For the second time this season, the Northern Arizona women's basketball team has defeated in-state rival, Arizona, this time coming in the first round of the WBIT by a score of 71-69, marking the first WBIT win in program history.
NAU will now advance to play Belmont in the second round on Sunday, March 23 at noon Mountain Standard time in Nashville.
Northern Arizona trailed 36-31 at the half, but came out and used a 9-0 run to pull ahead 42-40 with 6:38 to go in the third. Heading into the fourth, NAU led 56-54. There were two lead changes and five ties in the fourth quarter, and Arizona tied the game 69-69 with 1:44 to play. With a minute left,
Nyah Moran made a layup for the 71-69 advantage. With seconds on the clock, Arizona had a chance to win but did not attempt the final shot and NAU secured the win.
It's the first win in the McKale Center since 1978, just the second in program history. NAU improves to 27-7 on the year while No. 2 seeded Arizona finishes at 19-14.
Sophie Glancey earned her 19
th double-double of the year, finishing with 23 points and 14 rebounds.
Taylor Feldman scored 22 points and dished five assists.
Nyah Moran finished with 10 points and three steals and
Olivia Moran had eight rebounds and eight points.
NAU won the rebounding battle 52-to-41 and forced 16 turnovers on 13 steals. They shot 29-of-80 (36.3%) from the field, 4-of-32 from three-point range and were 9-of-12 at the line. Arizona shot 37.3 percent (25-67) from the field, 5-of-24 from three-point range, and 14-of-17 at the charity stripe.
"I'm incredibly proud of this team and the accomplishment of winning the first postseason game in school history. The players believed, they were confident this week, and we had a great week of practice," said head coach
Loree Payne. "We had a great game plan coming in, my coaching staff was diligent in all of our preparation, and they went out and executed it a T offensively and defensively and I couldn't be more proud of this team and where we are as a program."
The Wildcats used an early 5-0 run to set the tone, but
Sophie Glancey scored the first eight points for NAU off three offensive rebounds, making it a 12-8 game with six minutes to play in the first. At the media timeout, Arizona led 15-11 which stretched to 22-18 at the end of the first quarter. Arizona shot 60 percent (9-15) from the field and held the Lumberjacks to 31.8 percent (7-22) behind 11 first quarter points from Glancey.
Arizona couldn't score for over three and half a minutes, going 0-for-7 from the field during that span. It allowed Northern Arizona to make it a 26-24 game after
Olivia Moran, Feldman, and
Nyah Moran used a 6-0 run to force the Wildcats to call for a timeout. Out of the break, UA made a triple, but another 6-0 run that included four points from Feldman helped the 'Jacks take their first lead of the game, 30-29. It was short lived, as the Wildcats collected themselves for a 5-0 run to pull away 34-30.
At the half, the Wildcats led 36-31 after neither team made a field goal for the final three minutes of play. Both sides were evenly matched at the half, with the Wildcats making 13-of-32 from the floor compared to 13-of-40 for NAU – the Lumberjacks were held to one triple while Arizona made 3-for-13. NAU had a 24-23 edge on the boards with 15 second chance points and had eight turnovers but forced 11.
Northern Arizona came out hot to start the second half, making 5-of-6 from the field and using a 9-0 run over 1:32 to take a 42-40 lead, forcing the Wildcats to burn an early timeout. NAU outscored the Wildcats 11-4 in the first four minutes of play behind five points from Feldman and four from
Nyah Moran, shooting 62.5 percent from the field during that span.
Arizona didn't make a field goal for 3:29 of the quarter, and at the media timeout, NAU held a 45-44 lead. Glancey made a three-pointer to extend the lead back out to four points before the Wildcats briefly retook a 52-51 advantage. With 1:13 to play in the third, the game moved into a 54-54 tie. After outscoring Arizona 25-18 in the third, Northern Arizona took a 56-54 lead into the fourth quarter. The 'Jacks shot 52.6 percent in the third behind nine points from both Glancey and Feldman.
As the teams entered the fourth quarter media timeout with 4:57 to play, they were locked at 64-64. With 3:50 play, Feldman popped and hit a jumper to give NAU the slight 66-64 lead back, and a three-pointer made it a 7-0 run that allowed NAU to pull ahead 69-64 with 2:43 to play.
With 1:44 left on the clock, Arizona moved the game into a 69-69 tie. With a minute left,
Nyah Moran made a layup and NAU went back up 71-69. Arizona had time on the clock with a chance to win, but did not attempt a final shot.
