GAME OF THE NIGHT
Northern Arizona 60, Montana 59
In Flagstaff, Khiarica Rasheed’s and-1 finish off a lob from Nina Radford as time expired gave the Lumberjacks a shocking win. Sophia Stiles hit the apparent game-winner, which would have been her second in four games for the Lady Griz, with under a second to play. With 0.8 seconds left for NAU to respond, Radford’s inbounds lob from half court connected perfectly with a back-cutting Rasheed, who caught the ball with her left hand and forced it up the rim with both hands as she fell backwards.
With just .8 on the clock @NAU_WBB gets the AND 1 and wins 60-59‼️🤯#ExperienceElevated pic.twitter.com/sFQI4InRMU
— Big Sky Conference (@BigSkyConf) February 11, 2022
It caught the front of the rim and dropped into the hoop to tie the game at 59-59, and Rasheed’s free throw with no time on the clock won the game for the hosts. Montana struggled to a five-point first quarter but bounced back and went into halftime down by just five points.
OTHER RESULTS
Sacramento State 65, Northern Colorado 55
In Greeley, Northern Colorado led by one at halftime but Sacramento State pulled away in the second half to win its third straight and eighth in nine games.
Eastern Washington 74, Weber State 61
In Ogden, Eastern Washington torched Weber State with a 24-11 advantage in the fourth quarter to break open a close game and win just its third conference game of the season. The Eagles scored nearly twice as many points as they did in their previous game, a 55-38 loss to Southern Utah on Saturday.
Southern Utah 70, Montana State 60 (OT)
In Cedar City, Taylor Janssen’s jumper for Montana State forced overtime with 18 seconds left, but the Thunderbirds dominated the extra period, outscoring the Bobcats 12-2. The loss snapped an eight-game winning streak for Montana State
In Pocatello, Idaho State took the lead for good with back-to-back 3-pointers by Dora Goles midway through the first quarter and went on to run its in-state rival out of Reed Gym, piling up triple digits on the Vandals. Idaho has given up 96 and now 103 points in its last two games, both losses.
BIG SKY CONFERENCE WOMEN’S HOOPS STANDINGS
| Idaho State | 11-3 | 0.786 | 15-8 | 0.652 | 9-1 | 6-5 | 0-2 | W2 |
| Southern Utah | 10-3 | 0.769 | 14-8 | 0.636 | 6-3 | 8-5 | 0-0 | W1 |
| Montana State | 10-3 | 0.769 | 15-9 | 0.625 | 12-1 | 3-7 | 0-1 | L1 |
| Sacramento State | 8-5 | 0.615 | 12-10 | 0.545 | 6-3 | 5-6 | 1-1 | W3 |
| Northern Arizona | 8-5 | 0.615 | 11-10 | 0.524 | 6-5 | 5-5 | 0-0 | W2 |
| Montana | 7-5 | 0.583 | 14-7 | 0.667 | 9-3 | 3-4 | 2-0 | L1 |
| Northern Colorado | 5-8 | 0.385 | 9-12 | 0.429 | 5-4 | 4-8 | 0-0 | L1 |
| Idaho | 4-7 | 0.364 | 5-15 | 0.250 | 4-5 | 1-5 | 0-5 | L2 |
| Weber State | 4-10 | 0.286 | 8-15 | 0.348 | 7-5 | 1-10 | 0-0 | L3 |
| Eastern Washington | 3-9 | 0.250 | 5-16 | 0.238 | 4-7 | 1-8 | 0-1 | W1 |
| Portland State | 0-12 | 0.000 | 5-15 | 0.250 | 4-7 | 0-8 | 1-0 | L10 |
FIVE STARS
Khiarica Rasheed, gr. F, Northern Arizona
Rasheed finished with just 10 points on 2 of 8 shooting, but her final shot was one of the biggest in the conference so far this season. Her acrobatic catch and finish on an inbounds lob, and subsequent free throw after Nyah Morris-Nelson was called for a foul on the play, turned sure defeat into a stunning win for NAU.
(Q1 | 8:53) | NAU 2 – UNC 2@khiarica puts the Jacks on the board 💯#NAUStrong ⚒️🌲🏀 #BigSkyWBB pic.twitter.com/INEYSQVASh
— NAU Women's Basketball (@NAU_WBB) February 11, 2022
The Big Sky preseason MVP in 2020-21, Rasheed also added nine rebounds. She’s averaging 11.7 points and 6.7 boards on the season, and has turned in 25- and 22-point performances — and now an indelible highlight — in the last two weeks.
Isnelle Natabou, so. C, Sacramento State
The post from the Czech Republic continued making her case as the most dominant player in the Big Sky, putting up 10 points and 18 rebounds on just eight field-goal attempts in Sac State’s win. She added four steals and two blocks, was called for just two fouls, and now has double-doubles in nine straight games. The Hornets have won eight of those.
Jacinta Buckley, so. F, Eastern Washington
Buckley, who’s from Spokane but transferred from UNLV to Eastern Washington before the season, set a new career-high with 25 points in the Eagles’ win over Weber State.
A strong finish for the WIN!! Eagles dominate the 4th quarter behind a career-high, 25 points from Jacinta Buckley! #GoEags pic.twitter.com/U6BOB7SxIF
— EWU Women's Basketball 🏀 (@EWUWBB) February 11, 2022
In an efficient performance, she went 7 of 13 from the field, 2 of 3 from 3-point range and 9 of 9 at the free-throw line, and also added eight rebounds. With 12.3 points per game, she’s second on the Eagles behind freshman wing Jaydia Martin, who poured in 19 points in support in EWU’s win Thursday night.
Cherita Daugherty, sr. G, Southern Utah
Daugherty scored Southern Utah’s first four points in overtime and seven of the Thunderbirds’ 12 in the extra period.
The senior from Vancouver, Washington, finished with 19 points and added eight rebounds. At 10.9 points per game, she leads three Southern Utah players who all average in double figures.
Dora Goles, gr. G, Idaho State
Goles, a first-team all-Big Sky selection a year ago, has been limited with a finger injury and still hasn’t rejoined the starting lineup for the Bengals. At this point, it might make more sense for ISU to keep her coming off the bench as she had her best game of the season Thursday night, scorching Idaho with 21 points on just 10 field-goal attempts as she made 4 of 6 3-pointers and added a game-high three steals.
100 points on the Vandals? Don't mind if we do!#RoarTogether pic.twitter.com/1FYoUBHwqF
— Idaho State WBB (@HeartofaBengal) February 11, 2022
That pushed her season scoring average to eight points for the first time since before the injury.
QUOTABLE
“I felt like they weren’t ready for it. Khia showed us her vertical tonight. She’s one of the most prolific scorers in the Big Sky. … I think everyone in the whole arena knows who we are going to, we just put her in a little bit different of a situation.”
Northern Arizona head coach Loree Payne on Khiarica Rasheed’s game-winner against Montana
“You win some of these games, you lose some of them. We just didn’t make enough plays. It never comes down to the end, it just doesn’t.”
Montana head coach Brian Holsinger
“We made some tweaks to our offense which gave us some better looks at the rim and got us to the free-throw line a little more. That was a focus for us going into the game and the team executed the game plan well.”
Eastern Washington head coach Joddie Gleason
“Obviously, we had it going for us offensively. We shot the ball really well. I thought we did a good job of getting good open shots. I thought we created some turnovers that turned into good transition opportunities, we got out and ran well. … We were energized. We had a fantastic crowd tonight and with them being around, I think it took us to another level.”
Idaho State head coach Seton Sobolewski
WHAT’S NEXT
Saturday’s games
Montana State at Northern Arizona, noon
Idaho at Weber State, 1 p.m.
Sacramento State at Southern Utah, 2 p.m.
Eastern Washington at Idaho State, 2 p.m.
