Women's Basketball Set to Head to Montana for Big Sky Tournament

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. - The sixth-seeded NAU women's basketball team will play third-seeded Montana State in the quarterfinal round of the Big Sky Conference Tournament on Thursday, March 12 in Missoula, Mont. The Lady Griz of Montana earned the regular season title and will host the three-day tournament. Game time for NAU is set for 5:30 p.m. (MST), 4:30 p.m. in Flagstaff.

The Lumberjacks (9-20) actually earned their spot in the tournament by virtue of having already beaten Montana State (14-14) twice this season. NAU won 76-61 in Flagstaff and 79-60 in Bozeman.

Should the Lumberjacks advance, they would face host Montana at 7:30 p.m. (MST) on Friday, March 13. The tournament championship game will take place at 4:00 p.m. (MST) on Saturday, March 14, and will be shown live on Altitude Sports & Entertainment.

Webcast/Audio/Live Stats
NAU’s game vs. Montana State will be streamed on the internet for free at www.bigskytv.org. AM 930 KAFF will carry the game in Flagstaff, and live stats are available at www.montanagrizzlies.com. Fans can also listen to Mitch Strohman’s radio broadcast online for $4.95 on www.StretchInternet.com.

Continuing the Streak - Number 14 for NAU
They needed tiebreaker help to do it, but the Lumberjacks are now extending their streak of Big Sky Conference Tournament appearances to 14. Head Coach Laurie Kelly has never not advanced to the postseason tournament, and has a record of 6-4 once there.

Deja Vu, Again
The matchups and the location for this year’s Big Sky Tournament are both very familiar to the Lumberjacks. This year will mark the third in a row that NAU will play Montana State in the quarterfinals at Dahlberg Arena. Two years ago the Lumberjacks won the game 76-53 as the fourth seed over the fifth-seeded Bobcats, and then faced Montana, just as they would this year if they advance. Last year, sixth-seeded NAU lost to the eventual runner-up and third-seeded Bobcats by a score of 84-78.

Ending the Season on a High Note
NAU faced a must-win situation at home against Northern Colorado on March 5, and responded with a resounding 64-49 win. Senior Sadé Cunningham, playing in the final home game of her career, scored a game-high 19 points and dished out seven assists in the win, while Tiffany Amos came off the bench to score 10 points. The Lumberjacks needed a little help to earn a tournament berth, and got it when Eastern Washington was defeated at Montana. Northern Colorado was then knocked out of contention for a spot with a loss at Sacramento State two days after losing in Flagstaff.

Cunningham Sets 3rd Single Season Assist Record; Is Ranked 16th in NCAA
Sadé Cunningham has once again set the NAU single season record for assists as she now has 168 this season to break her own record of 161 from 2007-08. Her record last year broke her own record of 156 from 2006-07, so she now holds the top three spots all-time. Cunningham is currently ranked 16th in NCAA Division I in assists per game at 5.8.

Cunningham Reaches 1,000 Points and 600 Assists for Her Career
Senior Sadé Cunningham hit the 1,000-point mark when she scored a game-high 21 points in a win vs. Eastern Washington on Feb. 7. She is the 12th player in NAU women’s basketball history to score 1,000 points, and now ranks fifth all-time with 1,106 points. Cunningham is by far the all-time career assist leader at NAU with 627 (the previous career record was 441 by Kim Winkfield -‘07). Cunningham’s 627 assists rank third all-time in the Big Sky Conference, but she is unlikely to move into second place (648 assists).

Series History vs. Montana State
Montana State is up 30-19 in the all-time series, but NAU has had the majority of the success in recent years. Since 2004-05, NAU is 9-3 vs. the Bobcats. The Lumberjacks swept three meetings in 2006-07 and went 1-2 in 2007-08. Earlier this season, NAU earned a 76-61 win at home vs. Montana St. and then scored a 79-60 win on the road in Bozeman.

Scouting Montana State
Montana State had quite and up and down season up through mid-February, but the Bobcats closed out the Big Sky season going 5-1 with their only loss being to second-place Portland State. They’ve had four games go into overtime this year and lost three of them, but the win was a big one as the Bobcats upset then-league-leading Portland State 94-90 on the road on Jan. 31.

The Bobcats are led by junior guard Erica Perry with 13.5 points per game and senior forward Nubia Garcia with 12.2 ppg and 8.6 rpg. Last year, the Bobcats were 18-13 overall and runners-up in the Big Sky Tournament.

Montana State averages 74.5 points per game to NAU’s 60.3, but also gives up 75.1 ppg compared to NAU’s 69.2. On paper, the Bobcats hold nearly every statistical advantage over NAU, but it’s the Lumberjacks who have won both meetings this year, and by an average of 17.5 points.

Matthews Leading from Three Land
Senior guard Janelle Matthews has made 73-of-196 three-pointers in her career for a percentage of .372 which currently ranks first all-time in the NAU career record books. She leads the team this year with 31 three’s, and her percentage last year of .416 is the best single-season percentage in the history of the program.

Familiar Underdog Position
NAU has participated in the Big Sky Tournament’s championship game two of the last three years, despite not being one of the top two seeds. The Lumberjacks made it to the end as the fourth seed in 2007 after defeating #25 Montana on the Lady Griz’s home court in the semifinals. Second-seeded Idaho State went on to defeat NAU in the title game. In 2006, NAU made it to the title game as the three seed after defeating Portland State and Montana, and earned its first NCAA Tournament berth with a victory over Weber State. Last year NAU failed to advance past the quarterfinals as the sixth seed, facing third-seeded Montana State.