by Four quarters were not enough on Saturday (Jan. 21) as Eastern Washington women’s basketball defeated Northern Arizona, 96-89 in overtime. Eastern led by as many as 15 in the second half, but NAU rallied to tie the game and force an extra quarter. The Eagles’ defense shut down the Lumberjacks in overtime to get the win. Eastern improves to 5-3 in the Big Sky and 12-6 overall. NAU drops to 5-3 in conference and 11-10 on the season.
“That was a gutsy effort the whole game, not just in overtime. This is a really good NAU team, and they can score a lot of points. It was good to hang with them as far as scoring differential,” head coach Joddie Gleason said. “We were able to knock down free throws when we needed to. Our big focus was to keep them off the glass and not sending them to the foul line. Those were our keys, and our players did a nice job limiting NAU in those areas. It was good to five players in double figures. We try to make that extra pass and get an extra possession. There were so many great things that our players did in this game.”
Jaleesa Lawrence, coming off the bench, scored a career-high 23 points on 7-of-11(63.6%) shooting to lead the team. Finding the ball all over the court, Jamie Loera scored 12 points and had 11 rebounds for her third double-double of the season. In total, Eastern had five players who scored in double figures.
“I was taking it one possession at a time. If we can get a stop on defense, we can then execute our offense,” Lawrence said. “I was able to trust my teammates and doing everything I can to help them. We do this every day in practice. I think the team is just in flow, after playing each other in practice. We are defending after guarding each other in practice. We know each one of us can shoot so it’s easy to find an open option on the floor.”
Eastern jumped on NAU early with a 6-0 run. Three Eagles scored during the run to give the early advantage. Eastern stayed in front and led 10-5 at the media timeout with 4:49 on the clock. The Lumberjacks would then rip off a 6-0 run to take the lead at 3:58. Jaydia Martin would step behind the line and drain a three-point shot to get the lead back for Eastern. NAU would tie the game, but Andie Zylak lined up her shot and connected from three. After a quick layup from Jamie Loera, Eastern led 18-13 at the end of the quarter.
The Eagles shot out of their mind at 70 percent in the quarter. NAU was limited to 29.4 percent in the first.
It was on to the second quarter, and Eastern extended its lead to 22-13 with four three throws to start out. The Lumberjacks quickly responded with two layups. The Eagles continued to shoot well from three as Jaleesa Lawrence and Aaliyah Alexander both made deep shots. NAU was staying close, and the lead was 30-26 for Eastern with 4:30 left in the half. The teams would tie at 31, but Martin drove into the paint and gave the lead back to the Eagles. With seven seconds left, the Lumberjacks converted a layup to tie the game at 33 going into halftime.
Eastern’s shooting fell off to 23.5 percent in the quarter. NAU improved, but only to 33.3 percent.
Opening the second half, the Eagles blitzed the Lumberjacks with an 11-0 run. Jacinta Buckley got inside for two layups, while Alexander knocked down a three-pointer. Eastern led 44-36 at the 6:59 point in the quarter. After NAU broke the run with a three, the Eagles went on a quick 7-0 burst to separate further. The team’s traded baskets and NAU was able to trim the lead down to single digits. The lead was reduced to 56-49 with 42 seconds left, but Buckley had one more layup in her. After the score, Eastern led 58-49 going to the fourth quarter.
In the quarter, the Eagles returned to form with a 64.3 shooting percentage, while the Lumberjacks shot 50 percent.
The pace picked up in the fourth, as the Lumberjacks tried to rally before time ran out. They would organize an 8-0 run and Eastern’s lead was cut to 60-57 at the 8:10 mark. Alexander gave the answer with a three. NAU’s offense had found its groove and Eastern was forced to step up its pace as well. With 4:06 on the clock, the Lumberjacks tied the game at 70. Lawrence would then score inside to retake the lead. An NAU three would make the lead short-lived. The back-and-forth battle continued down the stretch. Buckley gave Eastern a one-point lead with 26 seconds left, but NAU would strike back with a layup to lead with nine seconds remaining. Loera would tie the game with a free throw. Neither team could find a score to break the tie and the game went to overtime.
The Eagles shot 44.4 percent in the fourth and NAU finished with an impressive 65.0 percent.
