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Northern Colorado women’s basketball falls to NAU, 62-59, in overtime

Inconsistency and sloppiness reared their ugly heads on Saturday, allowing the Lumberjacks to defeat the Bears in an overtime effort.

The University of Northern Colorado (10-10, 3-6 Big Sky) lost to Northern Arizona (12-10, 6-3 Big Sky), 62-59, at home. The two teams finished regulation tied at 57. It looked like UNC had the momentum to upset the 2022 Big Sky Tournament runner-up.

Instead, the team committed two turnovers and officials called the Bears for three fouls, including one with about 1.9 seconds left, giving the Lumberjacks additional possessions. NAU didn’t have any in the overtime period.

Bears coach Kristen Mattio said before officially starting her regular press conference that losses often feel like funerals, at least in her heart. This one was no different. Instead, it probably hurts more than some of the others.

“This loss hurts,” Mattio said. “I think our girls battled to the bitter end. It’s easy to say you just didn’t come out on top, because I know there’s a lot of areas that we’re going to go back and say we should have cleaned up and would’ve allowed us to actually walk away with the result that we wanted … but I’m proud of the effort.”

Northern Colorado’s biggest issue was, again, offense. There were turnovers that stymied momentum. The team wasn’t always on the same page, with players running into each other, and the paint presence lacked.

Mattio said the ball movement early didn’t meet the standards, effort on the offensive glass lacked in the first half, the team wasn’t always aggressive enough and it missed some free throws that would’ve made a big difference.

Basically, a lot of small details and their interconnection made the difference.

“We have to stay on the same page and, ultimately, it doesn’t matter who’s scoring the ball for us. We have a lot of players that can shoot, and we thought we needed more of an aggressiveness,” Mattio said. “We lacked a little bit of a paint presence in the first half, even with getting Delaney (Byrne) in there. We struggled to get her touches like we probably needed to more, and they did a good job defensively.”

UNC might’ve struggled offensively again, but its defense kept the game close. At the end of regulation, the Bears held the Lumberjacks 20 points under their season average of 77 points per game.

It forced more turnovers than the NAU average and out-rebounded the visitors, who are second in the Big Sky.

Clearly, it wasn’t a great game — and the Bears know that — but there’s still promise in the young team. The loss hurts now, but UNC wants to use it for further improvements.

“As I remind myself, I know we have some players that just haven’t been in these moments before. That’s what I kind of look for. I think you learn how to respond in adversity differently the more experience you get with it,” Mattio said. “Now, I don’t want to keep learning through losses, but I do think we will continue to get tougher and better through this, so when we get in these moments, we will walk away from the finish line with the win.”

UNC returns to play at 6 p.m. Thursday when it hosts Montana. The Bears invite fans to wear pink for the annual “Play 4 Kay” game.

Notable stats from the game

Hannah Simental: 14 PTS, 4 REB, 4 TO

Delaynie Byrne: 12 PTS, 10 REB, 3 AST, 2 BLK

Gabi Fields: 6 PTS, 5 REB, 3 STL

UNC shooting: 20-58 FG, 3-18 3FG, 16-21 FT

UNC other: 43 REB (12 OREB), 10 AST, 9 STL, 2 BLK, 13 PF, 22 TO

NAU shooting: 24-71 FG, 5-26 3FG, 9-12 FT

NAU other: 42 REB (15 OREB), 13 AST, 11 STL, 2 BLK, 16 PF, 16 TO