After scoring only four points in the first quarter, NAU basketball spent the rest of the game trying — and ultimately failing — to dig themselves out of a hole against Sacramento State.
Another slow start quelled another comeback attempt as the NAU women’s basketball team dropped their 10th game of the season in a 76-62 home loss to Sacramento State.
An abysmal first quarter put the Lumberjacks in a deep hole early, finishing the opening 10 minutes down 25-4. NAU looked lost offensively for most of the first half, but a strong defensive effort in the second quarter kept them in the game as they went into halftime down 35-24.
NAU head coach Loree Payne was not happy with her team’s continued lack of offense early in games, stating that it’s becoming a pattern for her team.
“It’s costing us games,” said Payne. “At the end of the day, if we play even halfway better in the first quarter, we win the last two games. But that did not happen and we had a very poor first quarter performance, and now we’re sitting at 0-2 in the last week. We have to figure out what we need to do to start stronger.”
Payne described the team’s first quarter as “embarrassing” and added that the team can’t play three quarters and expect to win.
NAU employed a full-court press for much of the game following its slow start, forcing 13 turnovers in the first half while only committing four. Points, however, were still hard to come by as the Lumberjacks scored just seven points from turnovers in the first half.
“We have a lot to work on offensively,” said Payne. “I felt like there were moments where our defense was pretty good today, but we got out-rebounded by 18 and scored four points in the first quarter. We didn’t deserve to win this game at all; we lost this game in the first six minutes because our first group didn’t come ready to play. It feels like a broken record because this is the fourth game in a row that we have started really slow.”
Despite its slow start, NAU was able to mount a comeback in the second half that eventually saw the Sacramento State lead whittled down to 59-53 with 4:30 left in the game. The Lumberjack comeback ultimately fell short, but a scoring outburst by sophomore forward Emily Rodabaugh was the spark that got her team back in the game.
After not taking a shot in the first half, Rodabaugh exploded for 24 points in the second half, which set a new season-high for the Washington native.
“I was in foul trouble in the first half, so I didn’t really get a chance to get going,” said Rodabaugh. “Being able to get a look close to the rim, those are the easiest ones I’m going to get so I have to put them in. I felt like I had an offensive advantage over the girl who was guarding me. They didn’t make a switch, so as long as she was on me, I wanted to keep attacking her and see what I could get out of it.”
Rodabaugh didn’t get much help from her teammates on offense; the only other NAU player to crack double digits was senior guard Miki’ala Maio who added 10 points off the bench.
Leading the offensive charge for Sacramento State were graduate guard Lianna Tillman and freshman forward Katie Peneueta, who both scored 20 points. Peneueta torched the Lumberjacks from deep, hitting six of seven 3-pointers before adding a basket from 2-point range to make it an even 20 points.
Payne said that they knew what Peneueta was capable of, but still failed to stop her.
“[Peneueta] went off,” said Payne. “We contained [Isnelle Natabou] to the best of our abilities, and then they have someone who knocks down six threes and the scouting report was ‘3-point shooter.’ We’re having a really hard time as a team digging into details right now.”
With the loss, NAU falls to sixth place in the Big Sky with a 9-10 record. Its next game will be played on Saturday, Feb. 5 on the road against Northern Colorado. Payne is preaching the details as her team tries to shake off the home loss, and doesn’t want them to get ahead of themselves.
“We’ve just got to take it one game at a time,” said Payne. “We have a quick turnaround to get on the road and go play Northern Colorado who came in here and got one from us this week. We’ve just got to focus on what we can do right now to get ready for Saturday.”
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