The NAU women’s basketball team seemed to have its fifth victory of the season in hand with a seven-point lead and a minute left to play in the game. But then things went awry.

The win would have equaled their win total from last season, but Utah State University had other plans, capping off their comeback with a last second 3-pointer to force overtime at 70-all and ultimately claiming victory 80–75 on Dec. 4 at the Rolle Activity Center.

“We stopped executing plays, and we let them get to the [free-throw] line too much,” said senior guard Vickie Toney. “Give them credit; they executed plays well.”

Overtime was no kinder to the Lumberjacks as their free-throw woes continued to haunt them. Despite jumping to a four-point lead in the game’s extra period, they shot just 1–6 from the line in their fourth loss of the season.

“I’m so devastated and numb over it,” said head coach Laurie Kelly. “We have a seven-point lead with a minute to go, feeling pretty confident, and I felt that we started to play not to lose the game, instead to finish the game and win it. It’s devastating.”

After taking a slim 32–29 lead into halftime, the Lumberjacks opened up their advantage to 12 points nine minutes into the half and were just one minute away from their fifth win in six games before the Aggie rally.

Freshman forward Shay May and junior forward Katie Pratt connected for the overtime’s first two baskets for the early NAU lead, but Toney and senior forward Jenna Galloway combined to miss five of six free-throw attempts that cost them the victory. In all, NAU shot just 1–21 (52.4 percent) from the line in the game.

“The stat that says it all is 11–21 from the line,” Kelly said. “You can talk about the three they hit or a turnover or a missed box-out, but the thing we can’t change is we went to the line 21 times with nobody guarding you and made 11. We single handedly lost this game at the free-throw line.”

On a night in which their leading scorer, sophomore guard Amy Patton, struggled with her shot, shooting just 6–19 for 14 points, three Lumberjacks achieved season-bests in points. Sophomore guard Tyler Stephens-Jenkins led the team with 17 points; Pratt added 15 and May recorded a career-high 12 in her first career start.

“There’s no question that Shay May is the future of our inside play,” Kelly said. “She was a great matchup for their big kid athletically, with her height and her ability to rebound the ball. We got contributions from everyone that played, and that’s the one [good] thing I can say. For 45 minutes, whether we made mistakes or not, we were out there fighting to win, and that’s why it hurts so much.”

The Lumberjacks finished the game shooting 41.2 percent against the Aggie zone defense and repeatedly got open looks and easy layups. But when the game was on the line, it was the Aggies who came up with the key shots.

“I think we executed our gameplan very well,” Pratt said. “[In] the beginning, we were making shots, but we just couldn’t make shots all around at the end. In the end, they were hitting the big shots.”

NAU (4–4) wraps up their seven-game homestand on Dec. 9, hosting South Dakota. Then they play the first of three-straight road games at San Diego on Dec. 11.

“I think we’re all pumped,” Pratt said. “We felt this was our best team effort, and now we know what we can do. I think we’re going to turn it around and come out stronger.”