Flagstaff, Arizona (January 22, 2025) – After opening Big Sky Conference play and playing four of the first six games on the road, the Northern Arizona women’s basketball team will play four straight games starting this Thursday and Saturday at Findlay Toyota Courts in Flagstaff. So I ended up sticking to Flagstaff.

The homestand begins with a rematch of last year’s Big Sky Championship Game when Eastern Washington comes to town for a tip on Jan. 23 at 6 p.m. Mountain Standard Time. On Saturday, January 25th, the Lumberjacks will put their sixth straight win on the line against Idaho at 12:00 PM PT. Both games will be broadcast on ESPN+ and tickets are available at nauathletics.com/buy.

It’s a special week at the Skydome as the Lumberjacks take on an alternate identity: Astrojacks. The new alternate identity, announced in August, was chosen to recognize and celebrate Flagstaff and the northern Arizona region’s rich Moon heritage, including Flagstaff being named the world’s first International Dark-Sky City in 2001. It was. 2024-25 Sports Season – Includes two women’s basketball games and two men’s basketball games, plus women’s soccer and volleyball in 2024 Fall.

NAU will wear special limited edition Astro Jack jerseys that will be up for auction after the game against the Vandals until 2:30pm MST on January 25th. Click here to learn more about Astrojack. here. Click here to participate in the auction.

Northern Arizona is 14-5 this season and tied for second in the Big Sky standings with a 5-1 conference record. The Lumberjacks are 5-1 at home this season. The Lumberjacks were picked No. 1 in both preseason polls and enter this weekend’s series on a two-game winning streak.

Eastern Washington, the defending regular season and tournament conference champion, went 6-12 against Flagstaff and 2-4 against the Big Sky. Most recently, the Eagles lost 58-56 at home to Montana State on Monday night after losing 67-57 on the road to the Vandals in their previous game. NAU lost 87-81 to MSU on Jan. 11, and both teams had wins over Sacramento State and Portland State.

Thursday’s matchup will be a rematch between the Eagles and Lumberjacks. The last time they met was on March 13 in the Big Sky Championship game in Boise, Idaho, with EWU winning 73-64. During the regular season, both teams won on their respective home floors. NAU won 89-81 in overtime in the game played in Flagstaff on January 27th. The Lumberjacks led by 15 points in the fourth quarter, but EWU stormed back with a 12-0 run, sending the game into overtime. The Eagles then held NAU to 20.9 percent from the floor in a win against Cheney on Feb. 22.

Eastern Washington leads the all-time series with a 44-35 record and has won two straight. The Lumberjacks have won nine of their past 12 games, including four straight in Flagstaff. The Eagles haven’t won inside the SkyDome since the 2018-19 season.

EWU is one of the best rebounding teams in the conference, ranking third behind NAU with 41.6 rebounds per game. As a team, the Eagles are averaging 65.2 points per game on a league-worst shooting percentage of 37.5 percent. Meanwhile, the Lumberjacks lead the league with 79.9 points per game. Peyton Howard leads the Eagles in points per game with 13.7 points, fifth in the league, and ranks fourth in field goal percentage at 38.6 percent. Courtney Grossman ranks third in the Big Sky with 9.4 rebounds per contest.

Thursday will be a three-point showdown as Howard averages 1.9 triples per game. leia beatty They lead the league with 2.4 per contest. Howard ranks fourth in the league with 3.7 assists per game.

NAU has won six straight against Idaho since the 2020-21 season. In terms of overall series record, the University of Idaho leads 23-18, but the Lumberjacks lead 11-9 in Flagstaff and have won three straight against UI at home. The last time Idaho State won on the road against Northern Arizona was in 2020-21.

Idaho has taken great strides this season under first-year head coach Arthur Moreira, winning five straight heading into Thursday night’s game at Northern Colorado. This season, the Vandals are 13-4 overall and tied with NAU at 5-1 in conference play.

The Vandals have two players who rank in the top 10 in scoring in the Big Sky. Leading the way are Olivia Nelson with 12.6 points per game and Hope Husman with 12.1 points per game. Jennifer Aardlund leads the league with 10.4 rebounds per game and will be in contention for second place. Sophie Glancey 2nd place is 9.4 points. As a team, Idaho ranks third in the conference with 67.1 points per game and boasts the best defense in the league, allowing just 55.6 points per game. The Vandals also limit opponents to a 33.7 percent clip. Additionally, UI leads the league with 44.2 rebounds per game, just ahead of second-place NAU with 42.7.

Northern Arizona boasts the top two scorers in the Big Sky. taylor feldman and Glancy each averaged 17.3 points per game. The two have each won the Big Sky Player of the Week award three times, with Feldman earning that honor yesterday after two road wins over Sacramento State and Portland State.

Feldman has scored 19 points or more in four consecutive games and leads the league in scoring with 20.0 points per game in conference-only play. Before her first fumble at the free-throw line on Thursday, she had made a program-record 45 consecutive free throws. The junior ranks fourth in the Big Sky in field goal percentage (43.7%), fourth in free throw percentage (85.3%), fourth in 3-pointers made (33) and fifth in assists (3.6). , ranks fourth in assists. Second in turnover rate (1.4) and minutes per game (33.8).

Glancy ranks third in the country with 11 double-doubles, which he has earned three in his last five games. In addition to ranking second in both points and rebounds per game, Glancy leads the field in field goal percentage at 49.6 percent and leads the conference in blocks per game with 1.6. There is. He has scored double figures in 17 of 19 games this year.

He also ranks in the top 10 in the league in scoring. Nya Moran 12.2 points per game, Saniya Neverson He ranks fifth in rebounds at 7.9 per contest.

Beatty finished with 10.8 points per game. At Sacramento State, he set a record by making at least one 3-pointer in 18 consecutive games. She continues to lead the league in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.8), 3-pointers made (46), 3-pointers per game (2.4) and 3-point percentage (41.8%).

Northern Arizona will take a week off before taking on Northern Colorado on Saturday, February 1st at 2:00 PM MST at Findlay Toyota Court.