PORTLAND, Ore. -- Seniors Raven Anderson and Erikka Banks exerted their will on Portland State in a dominant effort for the team's leaders, fueling the Northern Arizona women's basketball team to a 79-62 victory on Thursday night.
The victory sealed up NAU's spot in next week's Big Sky Championships, marking the Lumberjacks' first conference tournament appearance since 2009.
"We're going to celebrate this win tonight because as everyone knows we haven't been to the tournament in a while," NAU coach Sue Darling said. "I couldn't be prouder of our team. We got back to our roots with defense and rebounding and we played pretty good defense tonight. It's going to take another defensive effort to beat Sacramento State as well (on Saturday). We're still taking it one game at a time as we have all season."
It was fitting that on NAU's clinching night, Anderson and Banks led the way as the two seniors had the Vikings searching for answers all night long. They both recorded double-doubles as Banks tallied a game-high 24 points and 10 rebounds while Anderson put up 21 points and 11 rebounds in the victory. Together, their performance enabled the Lumberjacks to have a whopping 56-32 advantage in points in the paint while the duo shot a combined 20-of-27 from the floor.
"Brittani (Lusain) played great defense and Rene (Coggins) had eight assists and everyone did a great job," Darling said. "But I couldn't be happier for the seniors. They have wanted this for so long and we all got emotional after the game. Tonight they laid it out and they have been carrying us all year. The team has rallied around them all season and they did so again tonight."
With the opportunity to clinch at hand, the Lumberjacks were not going to be denied from the get-go, shooting 50 percent from the floor in the first half as they took a 36-31 lead into halftime. Banks and freshman Tori Lloyd each contributed two baskets apiece during an 8-0 NAU run that gave it its biggest lead of the half, 32-19, with five minutes remaining but Portland State had a late charge that sliced into NAU's lead. Still, the Lumberjacks had the advantage going into the break in large part due to Banks' 16 first half points.
After Portland State scored the initial basket of the second half, Anderson took over scoring four straight baskets during a 12-0 Lumberjack run that eliminated any momentum the Vikings picked up. The surge put NAU in front 48-33 with 15:40 remaining in the game and the Lumberjacks maintained a double-digit lead the rest of the way.
Banks passed the baton to Anderson in the second half with Anderson scoring 17 of her 21 points in the final 20 minutes. NAU put the game out of reach after halftime with 36 of its final 43 points coming in the paint as it shot 64.5 percent following the intermission.
"Having a goal in your head and it being right there with our hands reaching for it; Raven and I put our hearts out on the court and did what we could to reach that goal," Banks said. "I can't put it into words. Raven and I kept telling each other that we were going to the tournament and there was nothing that was going to stop us. To accomplish that, it's amazing."
Banks and Anderson were far from the only Lumberjack contributors on Thursday though. While they were the only players to reach double-figure scoring, the remaining trio of NAU starters â junior Mariah Willadsen and sophomores Rene Coggins and Brittani Lusain â each scored eight points. Coggins dished out a career-high eight assists and Lusain added six helpers. Anderson also distributed the ball to the tune of five assists, as in all NAU posted its highest assist total of conference play with 22.
NAU commanded the glass, outrebounding Portland State by a 46-25 margin. The Lumberjacks shot a season-high 57.1 percent for the game and held the Vikings to a 35.4 percent performance from the field.
The Lumberjacks are heading to the conference tournament because of another team effort, but the story of the night belonged to the team's senior duo. After three years of single-digit wins, Anderson and Banks will play beyond the regular season for the first time in their careers in their final seasons.
"Tonight we kicked it into high gear," Anderson said. "The fact that Erikka and I are doing this together means everything because we have been together since day one. In our senior year, to finally make it to where we always dreamed about is fantastic. We want more and we need to take a step back come Saturday because we're still in season. We need to grab this last win and maybe push us farther in the rankings going into the tournament."
