FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. – The Vandal women's basketball team dropped their fourth straight conference game at Northern Arizona, 65-53 on Thursday night. Four Vandals recorded eight points, including Freshman Aspen Caldwell off the bench.
Idaho ended the night 2-4 in conference play and 7-2 away from home overall. The Lumberjacks have now won the past five meetings between the two teams as Idaho had its lowest number of rebounds all season.
The Lumberjacks came out early and grabbed onto the lead in the first minutes. They would go on to hold the lead for the rest of the game. Idaho gave up five turnovers in just the first four minutes, trailing 4-9 at the media timeout. After the timeout, Idaho saw a scoring drought for over 3.5 minutes while the Lumberjacks continued to tack onto their lead. The quarter ended 15-10 with the Lumberjacks outrebounding Idaho 10-5. Idaho struggled, shooting only 30% (4-13) from the field while NAU boasted a 50% (6-12) shooting rate.
Idaho hit a rut in the second quarter as the Lumberjacks went on a 7-0 run, seeing their largest lead of 16 points. Langer broke the drought with a step-back three-pointer just before the media timeout. Caldwell entered the points tally, going 2-2 from the charity stripe followed by a big jumper in the lane. The rest of the squad struggled to drop their shots.
The Vandals entered half trailing 35-21, led by Caldwell with six points. Caldwell's shooting marked the first time she has led the Vandals in points this season. NAU dominated the boards, grabbing 23 to Idaho's nine. The bench contributed to four of the nine rebounds, with two from Caldwell and Skylar Bea each. NAU continued to have hot hands, shooting over 50% from everywhere while Idaho ended the half shooting under 27% from the field and three, and just 50% from the free-throw line. The Lumberjacks' defense shut down Idaho's leading scorers from the past two games with Kennedy Johnson at only three points and Sarah Brans without any.
Idaho created a spark in the third quarter with back-to-back threes from Johnson and Amalie Langer. The six points allowed Idaho back within single digits behind the Lumberjacks. The Vandals saw their best chance to cut the deficit as NAU was scoreless from the field for over three and a half minutes, but their chances fell short. It seemed the Lumberjacks always had an answer every time the Vandals tried to fight back. Despite still trailing, the Vandals had their best shooting success of the game going 7-12 from the field and 2-5 from three.
NAU shut down the Vandal momentum as the final 10 minutes concluded. The Lumberjacks tacked on 12 points, with nine from Sophie Glancey. Glancey ended the game with 23 points followed by two others in the double digits. For the first time this season, Idaho did not have a scorer in the double digits with four athletes at just eight points.
Idaho will conclude the road trip at Northern Colorado on Saturday at 1 p.m. PST. The Bears just dropped their match to Eastern Washington, 68-62.
