Tyler Stephens-Jenkins was back, and there was no way to ignore her presence on the court.

After missing the first five games of the season to a knee sprain, the junior forward didn't waste any time making her mark for the Lumberjacks, and Northern Arizona beat Utah Valley 73-59 Wednesday to open the Hilton Garden Inn Thanksgiving Classic.

Having Stephens-Jenkins back was like hearing the team breathe a big sigh of relief, and junior guard Amy Patton said it was great to have her teammate back.

"We have a really good player in Tyler," Patton said. "Tyler brings rebounding and scoring, and I feel that both of us are the same in a lot of ways, and when we're both on the court at the same time it's great Something was missing, and now that she's back things are coming together."

Stephens-Jenkins nailed three 3-pointers -- including a three on her first shot of the season -- and between her and Patton, the Wolverines' defense really didn't know who to guard.

NAU head coach Laurie Kelly said Patton and Stephens-Jenkins are both playmakers, and when there are more than one on the court at the same time, the Jacks are almost unstoppable.

"If you have just one playmaker on the floor, people can take that away," Kelly said. "When you have two that can create and make your own plays, that's hard to deal with."

Patton had a double-double with 17 points and 12 rebounds, and with her performance moved into the Lumberjacks' No. 6 spot in all-time scoring. Patton has 1,103 career points.

Kelly said Patton's stats were about as good as they can get.

"I'm real happy with Amy's performance," she said.

Stephens-Jenkins -- who scored 13 points -- said she was thrilled to be back on the court, and said she's close to where she should be physically.

"It wasn't fun sitting on the bench watching because I like contributing," she said, but "I think I'm pretty close to 100 percent. I rehabbed every day the team was gone during the five-day road trip and I'm almost there."

The team struggled overall from behind the arc, connecting on just 5 of 20 3-point attempts, but Kelly said she was happy the Jacks (3-3) didn't have to rely on their distance shooters.

"Our inside play with Shay May and Aubrey Davis was really good and they had a phenomenal game," Kelly said.

May finished with nine points and Davis netted 10 to go with eight rebounds, which was huge for NAU after losing senior forward Katie Pratt to a broken arm.

"The loss of Katie Pratt is huge to us, but I thought Chanel Smith came in and played some good minutes (in her place)," Kelly said.

Pratt will miss 6-8 weeks.

The Jacks used that inside presence to break out to an early lead, but NAU hit a lull and led just 36-33 at the half.

"I feel like we're coming together slowly but surely," Patton said," and at times things can be a little rough, but this tournament is really going to help."

Patton led NAU on the boards with 12 rebounds as the Lumberjacks continued to dominate under the basket. NAU outrebounded the Wolverines 40-30, and Kelly said it's something the team has really focused on.

"Iowa State was the only team that really beat us on the boards," she said. "If people come into our gym, it's got to be a hard game to win in the other team's mind."

Davis had eight rebounds and May added seven.

Something else strong for the Lumberjacks was the team's ability to handle UVU's press. The Wolverines showed full-court pressure at different times in the game, but Kelly was happy her team limited turnovers and showed calm control against the press.

Kelly said both the pressure and the Wolverines' defense were a bit of a surprise.

"Utah Valley has only played two games before us, and in the first they played man defense and didn't switch on any screens and showed very little, if any, press," she said. "In their second game they switched every screen and played man-to-man, so we prepared for them in man and switching and they came out in a 1-3-1 zone."

The Jacks hadn't seen that defense yet this year, so they were forced to make some quick adjustments.

"We had to teach on the go, but our players did a great job of picking things up," Kelly said.

Offensively, Utah Valley had a poor shooting night as they hit just 21 of 54 field goal attempts. Kim Bell scored 14 to lead the Wolverines while Jenna Johnson added 12 as the two were the only UVU players to score in double figures.

"We have to credit to Utah Valley, they battled," Kelly said. "They have good shooters and when they got open looks they did a good job of finishing."

The Wolverines will play Kent State at 2:30 p.m. Friday, and NAU will take on Kent State at 2:05 p.m. Saturday.

Stephens-Jenkins said it would be huge for the Jacks to win the tournament.

"We haven't won the tournament in a while, and we want to win it and take that momentum into future games," she said.

Bill Harris can be reached at bharris@azdailysun.com or 556-2251.