Idaho was looking to snap their four-game losing streak Thursday as they took on Northern Arizona. The Vandals had a tough test as the Lumberjacks sat at 10-9 (4-2) as one of the top teams in the Big Sky. With NAU being such a tough team, the Vandals were unable to end their losing streak as they fell 90-67.
The game began with a bang for the Vandals as senior forward/center Beyonce Bea got fouled to go to the line. She made both free throws to put the Vandals up 2-0. As the Vandal crowd got into their seats, Northern Arizona got busy. The Lumberjacks scored 12 unanswered points to push the lead to 12-2 at the media timeout.
After the media, freshman guard Rosa Smith hit two free throws to get the lead down to eight points. Bea followed that with a jumper to cut the Lumberjacks’ lead to six points. Smith answered again with a layup, and just like that, the Vandals were only down four.
Northern Arizona finally answered with a jumper to push the lead back to 14-6. They would eventually take a 10-point lead to go up 21-11at the end of the first quarter. Bea and Smith led the Vandals with four points each. The Lumberjacks looked good in the first quarter, shooting 9/18 from the field and 1/3 from the three-point line. Idaho shot 3/15 from the field and 1/8 from three.
The second quarter began with Bea making another couple layups, but NAU kept answering back. Senior guard Regan Schenck scored five points in one minute to push the lead to 26-15. Freshman forward Sophie Glancey made back-to-back layups to push the lead to 30-15. The Vandals scored the next five points as junior guard Sydney Gandy finally got on the board with a free throw. Smith and Bea each added two more points to cut the Lumberjacks’ lead to 32-21.
The Lumberjacks finished the half strong going on a 13-7 run, making it 45-31 at halftime. Schenck led all scorers with 11 in the quarter. Bea led the Vandals with seven points while Gandy added five. Both teams improved their shooting as NAU shot 10/18 from the field and the Vandals went 6/16. Both teams also improved from beyond the arc. The Lumberjacks were 2/4 and Idaho was 3/6.
The third quarter started all NAU again with the Lumberjacks going on a 6-2 run. A three pointer by graduate forward Montana Oltrogge made the Lumberjacks’ 56-43 lead the largest of the game. Idaho was able to counter with five points to cut the lead down to 56-40. Gandy then hit a three to make it 56-43. Schenck scored the next four points with a couple more jumpers. The Lumberjacks extended their lead to 67-45 before three straight points from the Vandals. Despite ending the quarter with momentum, Idaho still trailed NAU 67-48.
NAU was a solid 9/18 from the field again while the Vandals were a lousy 4/13. The nail in the coffin was a 9-0 NAU run to put the Vandals to bed.
The Lumberjacks cut right through the Vandals, winning 90-67. Both teams shot over 50 percent from the field in the last quarter with NAU going 9/17 and the Vandals going 7/12.
Northern Arizona was led by a three-lady attack. Schenck led all scorers with 21 points shooting 9/13 overall,1/1 from deep and 2/2 from the free throw line. She also dished out seven dimes and brought down seven boards. Oltrogge added 19 points and 13 rebounds, going 8/14 from the field and 3/4 from deep. Finally, Glancey added 18 points, shooting 8/11 from the field and 2/2 from the free throw line. The three players combined for 59 of NAU’s 90 total points.
The Vandals were led by Bea with 17 points and six rebounds. She was 6/17 from the field and was 5/7 from the free throw line. Gandy, scoreless in the first quarter, ended with 11 points. She was 3/9 from the field with all three coming from beyond the arc. She also went 2/4 from the free throw line. Freshman forward Sarah Brans added 14 points, going 5/6 from the field and 4/5 from the three-point line. She’s really provided the Vandals with a spark off the bench this season.
With the loss, the Vandals dropped to 6-12 (2-5), losing five conference games in a row. NAU improved to 11-9 (5-2), moving them past Montana State to second place in the Big Sky. The Vandals, now in tenth place, have let this once promising season slip away.
The Vandals will face 9-9 Northern Colorado tonight at 6 p.m. in ICCU Arena. They will look to end their six-game losing streak and turn this season around.
Jayden Barfuss can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @JaydenBarfuss10.