The NAU women's basketball team could not sweep the state of Montana as the Lumberjacks suffered a 54-48 loss to Montana at Dahlberg Arena on Saturday.

The women had beaten Montana State on Thursday, but lost for the fourth straight time in Missoula.

NAU (5-16, 3-5 Big Sky Conference) trailed by six points at halftime, but tied the game at 36-36 with just under 10 minutes to play. The Lumberjacks even took a five point lead despite shooting just 28.1 percent in the second half.

Montana (11-9, 6-2) responded with a 13-3 run over the next five minutes holding a five point lead with just over a minute to play. NAU cut the lead to a possession but the Grizzlies would make their free throws to secure the win.

"We made two critical turnovers down the stretch," coach Laurie Kelly said. "That was really tough for us. We shot the ball poorly in the second half. We held them to 54 points and usually that is a good thing, but we stopped making shots. We were really effective in the first half making shots and pressing. We did not make shots to press in the second half."

Amy Patton had a team-high 17 points on 7-for-21 shooting for the Lumberjacks and shared the game-high with Montana's Sarah Ena.

Caty Huntington was the only other Lumberjack in double figures, and Montana's Lauren Beck was the only other player for the Grizzlies to record double digits in scoring.

The Lumberjacks have finished their three-game road trip and will return to Flagstaff for three games over the next two weeks. NAU will play its first of three home games against Northern Colorado on Saturday, Feb. 6 at 6:35 p.m. in the Walkup Sky Dome.