FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. – Behind 18 points from Cherita Daugherty and a 15-point, 10-rebound double-double from Darri Dotson, the Southern Utah University women's basketball team took down Northern Arizona, 70-61, Saturday afternoon at the Walkup Skydome to become the Big Sky Conference's only remaining unbeaten in league play.
The win pushed Southern Utah to 8-5 overall on the season and 4-0 in conference competition. Northern Arizona dropped to 6-6 for the year and lost its first conference game of the season, falling to 3-1 in the Big Sky.
"I'm really proud of our performance today," said SUU head coach Tracy Sanders. "We held the number one scoring team in the conference to 61 points on their home court. Overall, we had so many different people step up when we needed a basket or a rebound. Darri was a terror on the offensive boards and gave us several extra opportunities in that second half."
Dotson and Lizzy Williamson both pulled down 10 rebounds apiece for the T-Birds, with Dotson securing six boards on the offensive end of the floor. Williamson finished the game with seven points to go with her rebounding efforts. In addition to her 18 points, Daugherty grabbed five rebounds of her own. Samantha Johnston matched Dotson with 15 points while knocking down three shots from 3-point range. Daylani Ballena was SUU's other scorer in double digits with 11 points for the afternoon.
The Thunderbirds took the lead on the very first possession of the game via a Williamson layup and never looked back. Later in the first quarter, NAU trimmed SUU's lead to one with the score 10-9, but that was as close as the Lumberjacks would get as Southern Utah led for the entirety of the contest. Northern Arizona appeared to be on the way to closing the gap late in the third quarter when it got back-to-back buckets to make it a two-point game, but an 8-0 run to end the period put SUU up 10 for the game's first double-digit lead.
SUU came out in the fourth quarter ready to protect its lead and never let the Lumberjacks make it closer than a six-point game. The T-Birds played tough defensively and answered every NAU bucket with one of their own to put the game on ice.
After surviving multiple away games and postponements, the Thunderbirds will finally return home to the friendly confines of the America First Event Center for their next contest. SUU will host Montana on Thursday, January 13, with tip-off at 6:30 p.m. MT. The game can be viewed on ESPN+ and heard on Thunder 91.1 FM.
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