FARGO, N. D. (NAU Athletics) – Amy Patton collected 19 points for Northern Arizona women’s basketball in a 66-56 loss to North Dakota State on Monday at the Bison Sports Arena. NAU outrebounded the Bison 42-35 and 18-7 on the offensive glass but shot 30-percent for game compared to North Dakota State’s 43.5-percent. Patton shot 7-of-20 from the field and for the second straight game hit 4-of-12 three-point attempts.

The freshman guard was the only Lumberjack in double figures with Lauren Hoisington and Tyler Stephens-Jenkins each turning in nine points. NAU (2-10) fell to 0-8 on the road this season while North Dakota State (7-5) improved to 4-1 at home. The Lumberjacks have played well on the defensive end in recent games but have yet to find consistent scoring offensively.

“We are a much better basketball team than what our record reflects,” said head coach Laurie Kelly of the team’s trouble on the road. “We haven’t been able to put a full game together. We are still trying to figure out our identity.”

NAU has dropped its last three games and will have nine days to address its recent struggles before heading to Las Vegas, Nev., for its last game in 2009 at UNLV on Dec. 29.

“Since the season started all we have been doing is playing games,” Kelly said. “This break coming up will give us an opportunity to come back and get after it on the offensive end. That has to be something we address before conference.” It is nice to see us doing a better job on the glass. Rebounding has been our nemesis this year, but on the offensive end what we need to do is learn what is a good shot and what is not a good shot. We have to find more consistency scoring the ball and take higher percentage shots.”

Despite Monday’s loss the Lumberjacks still hold the series edge over North Dakota State at 2-1.

NAU is 2-13 against UNLV all-time.