by Cody Bashore, NAU Athletic Communications
FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (December 6, 2020) – The Northern Arizona University women’s basketball team wrapped up its first Big Sky Conference weekend with a sweep.
The Lumberjacks jumped out to a six-point lead in the game’s opening minutes and never relinquished it en route to the 69-55 victory. With the win, NAU swept the season series against Eastern Washington for the second consecutive season while three of the games came in Cheney, Wash.
“We didn’t quite have our legs today,” said NAU head coach Loree Payne. “For us to be able to come in and get a conference road sweep, while not playing our best basketball and being down a few key players production players, I’m really proud of where the team is.”
NAU led by double-digits from the outset, as a 14-2 run across the game’s first five minutes as Schenck, Miki’ala Maio and JJ Nakai (Navajo) all connected on a pair of field goals. Shooting 55.6 percent from the field in the opening quarter, the Lumberjacks scored eight points off of nine turnovers by the Eagles.
Leading 23-10 heading into the second, NAU traded baskets with Eastern Washington for much of the quarter before a 8-1 run pushed the lead to its largest of the day. An offensive rebound by Olivia Moran led to a three-pointer by Schenck before Jacey Bailey put in a layup about 30 seconds later.
Though the Eagles interrupted the run with a lone free throw, Olivia Moran’s three-pointer on the following possession pushed the Lumberjacks to a 39-22 lead. Eastern Washington finished the first half with 13 turnovers, 22 total for the game, as NAU wreaked havoc on the Eagles for the second straight day.
“We have really grown defensively,” said Payne, whose team forced 25 turnovers on Saturday. “We do have a variety of defenses that we are trying to mix up and throw at people. With Eastern having a freshman point guard and us turning the press up a little bit, we caused back-to-back turnovers and that really set the stage for how that second half was going to go.”
Both offenses struggled through the game’s final 20 minutes, as NAU shot just 27.6 percent from the field and Eastern Washington fared little better at 32.3 percent. Playing their second game in roughly 26 hours, the Lumberjacks struggled to match their offensive production from Saturday.
“You go from practicing for multiple months to all the sudden now you’re playing back-to-back conference games,” Payne said. “It’s tough, and obviously there’s been some setbacks with just not having as much scheduled practice time as you’d like due to COVID. It definitely hit both teams in that second half. Fortunately for us, we were able to find some energy and turn up the press and maintain that 10-point lead kind of throughout.”
Though Eastern Washington cut the lead down to five, at 50-45 with 9:03 remaining in the game, NAU responded to effectively put the game away.
Schenck came up with a layup through a foul, converting the three-point play with a free throw, and assisted a jumper by Nakai to push the lead back to 10. Another three-point play by Bailey, coupled with a three-pointer from Emily Rodabaugh, held the Eagles at bay down the stretch.
“There were some big time players hitting big time shots,” Payne said. “Jacey hit some. JJ hit a big three for us, Emily did as well.”
Nakai led the Lumberjacks with 21 points and added three assists, while both Bailey and Maio reached double-digits for the second straight day as well. Bailey finished with the Lumberjacks first double-double of the season, grabbing 10 rebounds to go with her 14 points, and Maio ended up with 11 points, three rebounds and two assists.
