Following their second straight loss, Lumberjacks women's basketball coach Laurie Kelly ran down the list of problems her team needs to address before they can start winning tough games.

After losing 80-75 in overtime to Utah State five days ago, NAU was outshot and outhustled in Thursday's 69-57 loss to South Dakota at the Rolle Activity Center.

"They were in better shape than we were," Kelly said. "Sometimes I wonder which team actually (trains) at altitude."

The Jacks (4-5) failed to score a single point until the 14:40 mark in the first half when Tyler Stephens-Jenkins made a jumper to bring the score to 8-2. Although NAU would battle back to bring the deficit to one or two points throughout the first half, the shooting problems were never resolved.

NAU had 18 more field goal attempts than South Dakota (6-5), but the Coyotes made their buckets at a 45.8 percent clip compared to NAU's 34.8 percent.

Amy Patton and Katie Pratt were the Jacks' second-leading scorers with 10 points apiece but combined to make 31 percent of their baskets.

"It was a terrible shooting night for this team," Kelly said. "When your top two shooters go a combined 8 of 26, it's a long night."

Making matters worse, NAU was outrebounded 41-32. Patton led with seven while Stephens-Jenkins had six.

"We had two people rebounding the ball and those are our guards," Kelly said. "We've been talking about it all season long but it just doesn't seem to (resonate)."

Kelly said guard Kyhra Conerly was a bright spot on team as the freshman set a career high 13 points to lead NAU.

"Kyhra was a huge, huge trigger for us," Kelly said. "She played really well -- she's actually in pretty good shape, too."

Conerly was one of the few Jacks penetrating the paint on a consistent basis. As a result, NAU only had 11 attempts from the free throw line and made six of those shots.

"The guards should have done what (Conerly) did," forward Tiffany Amos said. "(She) penetrated and got to the line -- she had the right idea for sure."

Conerly said the Coyotes' man-to-man defense suited her style of basketball. Most of the teams she has faced thus far in her career play zone defense. Against South Dakota, she was able to dribble more effectively.

Kelly said the Jacks settled for too many perimeter shots against a team that she felt was less athletic than NAU. The defense certainly experienced some lapses, and allowed South Dakota to shoot 14 of 28 before halftime. The defense improved in the second half and allowed NAU to take a brief 51-50 lead, but the Coyotes made 15 free throws down the stretch to walk away with the win.

"We made the comeback but then we'd not play defense or let up on defensive possessions," Amos said. "We just need to stay focused longer."

Or, as Kelly suggested, they need to do some more running at practice.

"There are some kids that we just have to get in better shape," Kelly said. "We're not playing anybody enough minutes to have (them be winded)."

Jacob May can be reached at jmay@azdailysun.com or 556-2257.