‘Huge stride’: Shorthanded Weber State women make Northern Arizona sweat in home loss
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- Weber State guard Kendra Parra (3) scoops a shot past Northern Arizona’s Saniyah Neverson on Saturday, Jan. 4, 2024, at the Dee Events Center in Ogden.
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- Weber State forward Rose Bubakar (24) looks to score against Northern Arizona’s Audrey Taylor (11) on Saturday, Jan. 4, 2024, at the Dee Events Center in Ogden.
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- Weber State forward Taylor Smith (20) shoots over Northern Arizona’s Sophie Glancey on Saturday, Jan. 4, 2024, at the Dee Events Center in Ogden.
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- Weber State forward Mata Peaua, right, works the paint against Northern Arizona on Saturday, Jan. 4, 2024, at the Dee Events Center in Ogden.
OGDEN — Plenty of numbers said Weber State women’s basketball claiming a 65-52 win over Northern Colorado to begin the Big Sky Conference schedule Thursday was firmly in the upset category.
Saturday’s on-paper matchup was an even larger disparity with Northern Arizona, the best Big Sky team by any metric in nonconference play, arriving at the Dee Events Center as preseason No. 1 with the preseason MVP.
Returning a similar team to the one that beat Weber State by 32 in the last matchup — outscoring the Wildcats 27-4 in the fourth quarter — recent history would inform any interested party to expect a similar result.
Saturday afternoon in the Dee Events Center was far from that. If not for an 11-2 first-quarter run for the visitors, Weber State might’ve multiplied its good feelings on opening weekend.
As it was, Northern Arizona outlasted Weber State 92-78 with a blistering offensive performance the Wildcats made the Lumberjacks work for to the final whistle — a result simultaneously showing NAU’s status while offering promise to WSU.
“To be able to play with them at the level we did today is a huge stride and improvement from where we were last year against those guys,” WSU head coach Jenteal Jackson said. “We might have lost tonight but I think there’s a lot of good takeaways, areas that we can definitely be better but there’s also areas I think we will gain and build confidence moving forward.
“Just a good visual to have our girls see that, especially with 10 new kids, that hey, we’re right there.”
Weber State (4-8, 1-1 Big Sky), which moved up 18 spots in the NCAA’s NET ranking to 290 after Thursday’s win, faced a Northern Arizona (11-4, 2-0) team at No. 95 NET with wins over Arizona, New Mexico and Colorado State.
And, more bad injury news followed the ragged Wildcats: reserve freshman wing Dakota Nap suffered a lower left-leg injury and watched Saturday’s game from the bench in a boot.
That gave Weber State eight active players with starting guard Rita Satini and reserve wing Japrix Stubbs already out with season-ending knee injuries, backup shooter Kaitlin Burgess having left the team, and WSU sticking with plans to redshirt freshmen Maya Davis, Fui Niumeitolu and Vanna Quintana.
As many as 92 points are, the Lumberjacks started even hotter. NAU shot 5 of 9 from distance in the first quarter, with Leia Beattie connecting from 3 to cap the aforementioned 11-2 run and put the visitors ahead 24-11. The 30-17 margin after one quarter was essentially the entire ballgame.
Weber State outscored the Lumberjacks 46-41 over the final 22:37 of game clock and had plenty of chances in the fourth quarter to put the result in doubt.
After sophomore Taylor Smith made it 68-60 to open the fourth, freshman forward Mata Peaua missed a look, seemingly while fouled, that would’ve made it a six-point game.
That same margin and opportunity happened several more times: WSU followed free throws with a stop, only to turn it back over; Antoniette Emma-Nnopu scored while fouled but missed her free throw; and another stop gave WSU a chance but Rose Bubakar missed a jumper with 6:25 left.
Bubakar’s 3-pointer made the margin nine with 3:37 left but WSU could get no closer. Olivia Moran scored eight of her game-high 22 points from there to help NAU seal the victory.
Preseason MVP Sophie Glancey totaled 21 points and 14 rebounds to aid Moran and Beattie scored 17. Beattie shot 4 of 4 from distance while the rest of her team finished 4 of 20 — after the 5-of-9 first quarter, WSU held NAU to just one 3 in each quarter the rest of the way.
Most instructive about the result may have been what Jackson has preached for weeks: if WSU could stop turning the ball over so much, it would win more games. Having lost four games by four points or less in nonconference play while averaging 21.6 turnovers per game (in the bottom 15 nationally), the Wildcats had just 11 turnovers Saturday.
Seniors Kendra Parra and Kennedy Eskelson each dished five assists to just two total turnovers, sharing point guard duties with Satini permanently sidelined.
“They showed that 1-3-1 where they’re trapping corners, trapping different areas of the court. I thought we did a good job against that, taking care of it and really limiting our (turnovers) to maximize our possessions,” Jackson said.
Smith led WSU with 19 points and six rebounds. Parra scored 18 points, Bubakar had 15 and Emma-Nnopu finished with 12 points and 13 rebounds. Peaua totaled nine points and 10 rebounds.
WSU was 15-81 over five Big Sky schedules before Jackson took over last season and the Wildcats went 4-14 while seeing off several fifth-year seniors.
Though Weber will battle with a small roster, Smith says team chemistry provides hope for a program looking for indicators of better success.
“That’s something we talk about a lot. The team’s fun. You go to practice and we’re all having fun,” Smith said when asked what’s different from last season. “Even though we were picked last, we see what we can do every single day and we know we can compete with these guys and I think we’ve proven that.
“It builds confidence … that moving forward we’ll just keep going up.”
Weber State next hosts Idaho State (6-7, 1-1) on Saturday, Jan. 11.
WSU ADDING PLAYER
With several players hurt and Burgess leaving an open roster spot, Weber State is adding one player at mid-year — though she’s unlikely to become an immediate contributor. Arizana Peaua, Mata’s sister, recently returned from a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and is enrolled to start classes Monday.
Arizana Peaua, a forward, spent the 2022-23 season at Westminster College with Jackson as head coach, appearing in five games as a freshman.
