by Cody Bashore, NAU Athletic Communications
FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (February 18, 2021) – With 46 fouls and 45 turnovers combined for the Northern Arizona Lumberjacks and the Weber State Wildcats, Thursday night’s game naturally came down to just that.
Hitting 16-of-19 from the free-throw line in the fourth quarter, coupled with a pair of crucial baskets off of Weber State miscues, the Lumberjacks (10-11, 8-9 Big Sky) pulled out an 82-70 victory over the Wildcats (0-16, 0-13) to extend their home winning streak to five games.
“You can’t have 20 turnovers against a team that doesn’t even press,” said NAU head coach Loree Payne. “We’re trying to make the Sportscenter passes right now, we’re trying to thread the needle and we’re making passes two to three feet away instead of just being fundamental.”
Weber State drew even with NAU early on in the fourth quarter thanks to a pair of free throws by Daryn Hickok before the Lumberjacks put together a 12-1 run to pull away. The 11-point advantage was the largest for the Lumberjacks since the first quarter as their early double-digit advantage was erased by the Wildcats midway through the second quarter.
Jacey Bailey answered Hickok’s pair of free throws with a three-pointer, the first of three during the run. After Weber State hit just 1-of-2 at the line, JJ Nakai (Navajo) connected on a three-pointer of her own off a pass from Regan Schenck after Olivia Moran kept the possession alive on the offensive boards.
A steal from Emily Rodabaugh set up another three from Nakai, once again with the assist to Schenck, before yet another Weber State turnover led to a three-point play from Moran.
NAU put up 21 points off of Weber State’s 25 turnovers, though it also managed to allow 24 points off 24 turnovers of its own. The Lumberjacks 11-of-21 from three-point range drastically out-paced the Wildcats’ 3-of-9, with the trio of fourth-quarter threes providing the perfect example down the stretch.
“It’s really hard to run in transition if you have to take the ball out every time,” Payne said. “I think for us, being able to get a couple stops and transition to get some easier buckets or at least push the tempo a little bit definitely helped us.”
Weber State cut the deficit down to six, courtesy of a few baskets in the paint, with just a few minutes remaining, but couldn’t come any closer as Schenck, Rodabaugh, Moran and Khiarica Rasheed combined to hit 84 percent from the line across the final 10 minutes.
Schenck hit all six of her fourth-quarter free throws, finishing the night with 17 points, six assists and six rebounds. Rasheed added 13 points and four rebounds, going 8-of-12 from the line, with Rodabaugh adding 11 points, a team-high eight boards and three steals.
Nakai led the Lumberjacks in scoring with 20 points, 10 of which came in a first quarter that initially appeared to show the game getting out of reach for the Wildcats.
After Weber State took a 6-5 lead through the first 3:30, NAU ripped off 11 straight points in less than two minutes to take a 10-point lead. Nakai put up seven of the points on the run while Schenck contributed the other four as the Wildcats committed a pair of turnovers and missed three shots in the paint.
However, following a three-pointer by Rasheed, Weber State ripped off its own 8-0 run and cut the advantage down to three. Five points by Olivia Moran, who finished with a career-best nine, temporarily kept the Lumberjacks in front to start the second, but a 14-3 run by the Wildcats gave the visitors their first lead since the opening minutes.
The run included two of their three makes from outside, coming off the hands of Emma Torbert and Kori Pentzer, and put Weber State ahead 34-32 at the break. The teams traded baskets through the third, with NAU clinging to a two-point lead before putting the game away early on in the fourth.
