Grand Canyon Times

Northern Arizona University Athletics issued the following announcement on Aug. 13.

Scheduling six programs that reached the semifinals of their respective conference tournament or the NCAA Tournament, the Northern Arizona women's basketball team compiled a challenging non-conference slate to make up its 29-game schedule.

The Lumberjacks will play seven games in Flagstaff before the calendar flips to 2022, including a stretch of six consecutive home games between Dec. 2 and Dec. 17. The homestand, which includes Northern Arizona's Big Sky Conference opening weekend against Weber State and Idaho State, is the longest for the program since a seven-game home stretch across 21 days during the 2010-11 season.

"We feel like we put together a very competitive schedule. We feel very fortunate to have a stretch of home games in December, especially during finals and with school being back in person," said NAU head coach Loree Payne, who added the reduced travel during the non-conference schedule helps balance out the miles racked up during Big Sky play.

Northern Arizona opens the season in the Pacific Northwest, facing NCAA Tournament qualifier Washington State Cougars on Nov. 12 and the Washington Huskies on Nov. 14. It'll be a return to the home state of Regan Schenck, Emily Rodabaugh and Fatoumata Jaiteh while Khiarica Rasheed, Lauren Orndoff and Nina Radford will be just north of their home state of Oregon.

It also offers a return to Payne's alma mater in Seattle, with the trip rescheduled after being pushed off of last year's schedule by the altered season and COVID-19.

"We have a lot of Northwest kids, and we definitely want to bring them back so their families and friends can see them play near their hometowns," Payne said. "Me being a Washington alum, I love going back up there and playing in front of the Husky fans. Playing two Pac-12 teams to open the season is a little daunting, but it gives our kids a great opportunity to play at the highest level possible."

Northern Arizona returns home to host UNLV just a few days later on Nov. 17, a rematch of last season's season opener in Las Vegas. The Lumberjacks defeated the Lady Rebels 79-75 to open the 2020-21 season before UNLV went on to finish 15-9 and reached the Mountain West Conference quarterfinals.

Another return game sends the Lumberjacks to El Paso, Texas on Nov. 20, with the UTEP Miners coming off a 17-8 season and an appearance in the Conference USA semifinals. Northern Arizona defeated UTEP 83-75 to wrap up non-conference play a year ago.

Following its Big Sky opener against Weber State on Dec. 2 and defending conference champion Idaho State on Dec. 4, Northern Arizona hosts the Grand Canyon Lopes on Dec. 9, the Cal Baptist Lancers on Dec. 11, the Cal Poly Mustangs on Dec. 13 and the Arizona Wildcats on Dec. 17.

 The Lopes finished 18-7 last season, falling to the Lancers in the WAC Championship game. Meanwhile, Cal Baptist went on to finish the year 26-1 in its third year as a Division I program. Ineligible for the NCAA Tournament due to its transition from D-II, Cal Baptist reached the quarterfinals of the WNIT before ultimately ending its season with a loss to Rice.

 Cal Poly also reached the semifinals of its conference tournament, finishing the season 13-11 in the Big West, while Arizona bounced back from a semifinal loss at the Pac-12 tournament to reach the NCAA Championship game against conference foe Stanford.

 Falling 54-53 in the title game, Arizona returns two starters and its top five players off the bench from the team that finished 21-6 as the national runner-up in head coach Adia Barnes' fifth year leading her alma mater.

 "To have them come up to Flagstaff, I think it just speaks volumes about Adia and her program down there," Payne said. "There's not a lot of Pac-12 teams that would be willing to travel to play a mid-major and come up to 7,000 feet. It just shows the incredible growth of their program. That shows a lot of respect for the Arizona state schools and respect within the collegiate ranks of just being colleagues and being in this as coaches all together.

Wrapping up the non-conference schedule with a trip to UC San Diego, which enters its season as a D-I program in the Big West after a 25-5 record in its finale as a D-II school in 2019-20, Payne said Northern Arizona worked to stay regional while also finding an important reason to schedule many of its matchups.

"I think it's really important that us and GCU play, that's an important piece to play your in-state opponents," Payne said. "Seattle and Pullman are our furthest trip and I think it benefits us with Eastern Washington and Idaho in our conference. It's the same type of trip and same type of area, so it gives the kids a little bit of familiarity."

 Following the holiday break, the Lumberjacks begin a stretch of travel in and out of Flagstaff starting with the trip back north to face the Eagles and Vandals in their return to Big Sky play on Dec. 30 and Jan. 1 respectively.

A lone home game on Jan. 8 against Southern Utah is followed by a trip to Sacramento State for a Jan. 10 match-up. Northern Arizona then hosts Northern Colorado on Jan. 15 before heading to Montana State (Jan. 20), Montana (Jan. 22) and Portland State (Jan. 29).

Northern Arizona hosts Sacramento State to open the second half of the Big Sky schedule on Feb. 3 before making their trip to Greeley, Colo. on Feb. 5 to play at Northern Colorado. Three straight home games, Montana (Feb. 10), Montana State (Feb. 12) and Portland State (Feb. 17) precedes a trio of road games against Southern Utah (Feb. 21), Weber State (Feb. 24) and Idaho State (Feb. 26) in the span of six days.

The Lumberjacks wrap up the regular season at home against Eastern Washington on March 2 and Idaho on March 4 before heading to Boise, Idaho for the Big Sky Conference tournament beginning on March 7.

Tickets to all 15 of Northern Arizona's home games will be available soon. For more information on season tickets, as well as single-game options, make sure you follow NAU Athletics and NAU Women's Basketball on all social media channels to stay up to date on future sale dates.

Original source can be found here.