FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. - The Southern Utah women's basketball team fell to Northern Arizona Thursday evening by a score of 56-67. The Thunderbirds held the Lumberjacks to just 22 points in the second half, but could not overcome the 14-point lead NAU had built by halftime.

Madelyn Eaton was the leading scorer for the T-Birds with 18 points on 6-for-11 shooting. Liz Graves scored 17 points and pulled down 15 rebounds for her seventh double-double of the season. Cherita Daugherty was also in the double-digits in the rebounding column with 10.

The Thunderbirds outrebounded NAU 50-34, including 18 offensive rebounds that they turned into 14 second chance points. However, they only forced the Lumberjacks into 11 turnovers while turning the ball over 21 times themselves.

Southern Utah went 13-for-28 (46.4%) from the floor in the first half, but Northern Arizona scored 45 points on 52.9 percent shooting. They used a 14-3 run that touched both the first and second quarters to open a double-digit lead on the T-Birds. The Thunderbirds would go into the break down 31-45.

The T-Birds began to chip away at the lead in the third quarter, allowing just six points to be scored by NAU. By the time the quarter ended they had cut the lead in half and were down just seven points with 10 minutes to play.

Unfortunately, that would be as close as they would get. The Lumberjacks hit three three-pointers and knocked down all of their free throws down the stretch to close out the game.

The two teams will match up again on Saturday in Cedar City at 2:00 p.m.

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