Women's Basketball to Play Arkansas State on Saturday

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. – Northern Arizona women’s basketball returns to the hardwood on Saturday for a matchup against the Sun Belt Conference’s Arkansas State at Rolle Activity Center. The game is scheduled for a 3:35 p.m. tip-off.

LAST WEEK: NEW MEXICO, SIENA, OREGON STATE
NAU suffered its worst loss of the season against New Mexico falling by 32 points last Tuesday. The Lumberjacks were unable to recover from an early 12-0 deficit. NAU shot 26.8-percent for the game. The women bounced back on Friday beating Siena 71-62 at the NAU Thanksgiving Classic for its first win of the year. The Lumberjacks shot just 34.4-percent from the field in the first half but rebounded in the final 20 minutes shooting 48.1-percent. Caty Huntington led all players with 21 points. On Saturday, the Lumberjacks fell in the NAU Thanksgiving Classic championship game 62-33 to Oregon State. NAU shot 34.6-percent from the field in the second half cutting the Beaver lead to 15, but finished at 29.4-percent for the game. Amy Patton totaled a team-high 14 points with 10 rebounds, her third double-double of the year.

THIS WEEKEND: ARKANSAS STATE
The Lumberjacks will play Arkansas State at 3:35 p.m. on Saturday against Arkansas State. The Lumberjacks have faced the Red Wolves just once in series history. NAU was defeated 71-40 last fall in Jonesboro, Ark.

MULTIMEDIA
FS Arizona will carry a live broadcast of Arkansas State at NAU. It will be a national broadcast found on Direct TV channel 686 and Dish Network channel 415. Arizona viewers can watch live on cable on channel 58 (FS Arizona) or on Fox College Sports. A live webcast will also be available through www.bigskytv.org. In addition, live stats will be provided through www.nauathletics.com/livestats.

17-0
NAU women’s basketball broke open its game against Siena with a 17-0 run midway through the second half. Down 36-33 with 15:32 left in the game, the Lumberjacks scored 17 unanswered points behind Caty Huntington and Amy Patton whom combined for all but three of those 17 points.

DOUBLE DOUBLE
Freshman guard Amy Patton leads the team in doubles doubles with three through seven games played. She is tied for the Big Sky Conference lead in double doubles with Portland State’s Claire Faulker. Jenna Galloway makes the double double list this week with 12 points and 10 rebounds against Siena on November 27. Patton and Galloway are two of 12 players in the conference this year to record at least one double double.

BIG TOTALS
Freshman guard Amy Patton is the only player in the Big Sky Conference to have three games with 10 or more rebounds and two games with 20 or more points. As of Dec. 1, Patton is ranked No. 72 in NCAA Division I Women’s Basketball in scoring (17.3 ppg).

TOP 3 RANKINGS
NAU women’s basketball is ranked third in the Big Sky Conference in field-goal percentage at 37.2-percent per-game and three-point field-goal percentage limiting opponents to 27.3-percent per-game.

PATTON ON TOP
Freshman guard Amy Patton is currently second in the Big Sky Conference in scoring (17.3 points-per-game) and rebounding (7.7 rebounds-per-game) through Dec. 1. She is the only freshman in the top 15 in scoring and the best freshman rebounder. Patton has scored in double-figures in all but one game this year with a season-high 29 points against UC Riverside and 26 points against Ball State. Her 29 points is the second highest total in the Big Sky this year. She has put up double-digits in rebounds three times.

STREAK RENEWAL?
The Lumberjacks' four-game streak shooting over 40-percent from the field was snapped on Tuesday against New Mexico; however, NAU bounced back against Siena shooting 40.7-percent for the game on November 27. The Lumberjacks fell under 40-percent against Oregon State on November 28, but have still shot over 40-percent in five of their seven games.

FIRST OF THE YEAR
NAU women's basketball turned in its best performance of the season with a 71-62 win over Siena on day one of the NAU Thanksgiving Classic. The Lumberjacks 0-5 start was their worst to open a season since the 1990-91 women went 0-14 before beating Nevada at home (57-42) and finishing 1-26 on the year.

TRIO SHINES VS. SIENA
Sophomore guard Caty Huntington, freshman guard Amy Patton and junior forward Jenna Galloway turned in standout performances in NAU's win over Siena. Huntington led all scorers with 21 points while Patton and Galloway recorded double-doubles. Patton totaled 18 points and 10 rebounds while Galloway added in 12 points and 10 rebounds. Huntington, Patton and Galloway accounted for 71.8-percent of NAU's scoring while Galloway and Patton made up half of NAU's rebound total.

LINEUP SHUFFLE
After several lineup changes, NAU has settled into a starting five of Vickie Toney, Caty Huntington, Amy Patton, Jenna Galloway and Lauren Hoisington. The group has started the last three games as head coach Laurie Kelly returned to her initial starting lineup in the season opener against Pepperdine on November 13. This season, seven different players have earned starts while six are averaging more than 20 minutes-per-game.

HOISINGTON STAYING SHARP
Junior forward Lauren Hoisington is fifth in the Big Sky Conference in field-goal percentage this year shooting 46.9-percent from the field as of Dec. 1 providing NAU with consistent scoring inside. She had a season-high 19 points on 8-of-10 shooting from the field against UMKC earlier this year.

HUNTINGTON MOVING ON UP
Sophomore guard Caty Huntington broke into the top 20 in scoring at 19th in the Big Sky Conference with 9.1 ppg as of Dec. 1. She is third with 2.3 steals-per-game and seventh in free-throw percentage (79.2).

SEVEN IN SIXTEEN
The Lumberjacks played seven games in 16 days dating back to their season opener against Pepperdine on Nov. 13 and finishing with Oregon State on Nov. 28. NAU has been across the country in those 16 days playing at Malibu, Calif., Riverside, Calif., Kansas City, Mo., Muncie ,Ind., Albuquerque, N. M., and Flagstaff, Ariz. The Lumberjacks will enjoy a six-day break from games prior to playing Arkansas State, its longest gap between games so far this year.

AMBITIOUS SCHEDULING
The Lumberjacks will play their first five games away from Flagstaff with nine of their 13 non-conference games on the road. The challenging schedule includes matchups against Pepperdine (WAC), Ball State (MAC), New Mexico (Mountain West), Arkansas State (Sun Belt), UNLV (Mountain West), and Oregon State (Pac-10) at the NAU Thanksgiving Classic. Ball State received votes in the 2009 USA TODAY/ESPN Top 25 Preseason Coaches' Poll.