Northern Arizona Lumberjacks women's basketball

Northern Arizona Lumberjacks women's basketball
Northern Arizona Lumberjacks women's basketball
	2024–25 Northern Arizona Lumberjacks women's basketball team
University	Northern Arizona University
Head coach	Laura Dinkins (1st season)
Conference	Big Sky Conference
Location	Flagstaff, Arizona
Arena	Findlay Toyota Court ; (capacity: 11,230)
Nickname	Lumberjacks
Colors	Blue and gold;
NCAA tournament appearances
	2006
Conference tournament champions
	2006
Conference regular-season champions
	1998, 2023

The Northern Arizona Lumberjacks women's basketball^[2] team represents Northern Arizona University, located in Flagstaff, Arizona, in NCAA Division I women's competition. The school's team competes in the Big Sky Conference.^[3]^[4] Laura Dinkins, formerly the associate head coach at Grand Canyon University and NAU alum, was named the head coach of the Lumberjacks in April 2025.^[5] The women's basketball team reached the conference tournament championship in 2023. The Lumberjacks play home games at the Findlay Toyota Court.

Team record

Statistics overview
Season	Coach	Overall	Postseason
Joyce Gedde (Intermountain Conference) (1974–1976)
1974–75	Joyce Gedde	2-10	0-7
1975–76	Joyce Gedde	0-14	0-13
Joyce Gedde:		2-24	0-20
Sue Lambert (Intermountain Conference) (1982–1984)
1976–77	Sue Lambert	5-14	2-11
1977–78	Sue Lambert	5-14	3-11
Sue Lambert:		10-28	5-22
Linda French (Intermountain Conference) (1974–1976)
1978–79	Linda French	5-15
1979–80	Linda French	4-22
Linda French:		9-37
Paulette Gebert (Intermountain Conference) (1980–1982)
1980–81	Paulette Gebert	4-20	1-9
1981–82	Paulette Gebert	6-20	1-9
Paulette Gebert (Independent) (1982–1983)
1982–83	Paulette Gebert	9–15
Paulette Gebert:		19-55
Dave Brown (Independent) (1983–1987)
1983–84	Dave Brown	10-14
1984–85	Dave Brown	12-14
1985–86	Dave Brown	17-8
1986–87	Dave Brown	9-18
Dave Brown (Mountain West Conference) (1987–1988)
1987–88	Dave Brown	14-15	8-8
Dave Brown (Big Sky Conference) (1988–1990)
1988–89	Dave Brown	12-14	6–10
1989–90	Dave Brown	11-17	6–10
Dave Brown:		85-100	12-20
Linda Bruns (Big Sky Conference) (1990–1993)
1990–91	Linda Bruns	1-26	1-15
1991–92	Linda Bruns	7-20	0-16
1992–93	Linda Bruns	4–24	0-14
Linda Bruns:		10-70	1-45
Charli Turner (Big Sky Conference) (1993–1996)
1993–94	Charli Turner	12–15	6-8
1994–95	Charli Turner Thorne	14–12
1995–96	Charli Turner Thorne	14–13	6-8
Charli Turner Thorne:		40-40	18-24
Meg Sanders (Big Sky Conference) (1996–2003)
1996–97	Meg Sanders	17-11	10-6
1997–98	Meg Sanders	22-6	15-1
1998–99	Meg Sanders	14-14	7-9
1999–2000	Meg Sanders	11-18	7-9
2000–01	Meg Sanders	13-17	10-6
2001–02	Meg Sanders	17–11	10-6
2002–03	Meg Sanders	13-15	6-8
Meg Sanders:		107-92	65-43
Laurie Kelly (Big Sky Conference) (2003–2012)
2003–04	Laurie Kelly	12-16	5-9
2004–05	Laurie Kelly	19-10	9-5
2005–06	Laurie Kelly	22-11	9-5
2006–07	Laurie Kelly	20-12	11-5
2007–08	Laurie Kelly	10-20	6-10
2008–09	Laurie Kelly	9-21	6-10
2009–10	Laurie Kelly	5-24	3-13
2010–11	Laurie Kelly	11-18	6-10
2011–12	Laurie Kelly	9-20	4-12
Laurie Kelly:		117-152	59-79
Sue Darling (Big Sky Conference) (2013–2016)
2012–13	Sue Darling	8-21	7-13
2013–14	Sue Darling	9–20	6–14
2014–15	Sue Darling	13-17	9-9
2015–16	Sue Darling	6–24	2–16
Sue Darling:		32-114
Robyne Bostick (Big Sky Conference) (2016–2017)
2016-17	Robyne Bostick	9-21	5-13
Robyne Bostick :		9-21	5–13
Loree Payne (Big Sky Conference) (2017–2025)
2017-18	Loree Payne	7-23	4-14
2018-19	Loree Payne	13-18	8-12
2019-20	Loree Payne	16-15	12-8	NCAA Tournament canceled
2020-21	Loree Payne	16-5	12-2
2021-22	Loree Payne	17-14	12-8
2022-23	Loree Payne	21-14	13-5
2023-24	Loree Payne	25-10	15-3
2024-25	Loree Payne	27-8	16-2
Loree Payne:		136–116	88–62
Total:
National champion Postseason invitational champion Conference regular season champion Conference regular season and conference tournament champion Division regular season champion Division regular season and conference tournament champion Conference tournament champion

Postseason appearances

NCAA tournament results

The Lumberjacks have made one NCAA Tournament appearance. They have a record of 0–1.

Year	Seed	Round	Opponent	Result
2006	#14	First Round	#3 Baylor	L 56–74

WNIT results

The Lumberjacks have made two WNIT appearances. They have a record of 0–2.

Year	Round	Opponent	Result
2023	First Round	New Mexico	L 64–72

Year	Round	Opponent	Result
2024	Second Round	South Dakota	L 65–79

WBIT results

The Lumberjacks made their first WBIT appearance in 2025. They have a record of 1-1.

Year	Round	Opponent	Result
2025	First Round	Arizona	W 71-69
2025	Second Round	Belmont	L 80-81

References

^ "Northern Arizona University Visual Identity Guide". Retrieved December 5, 2022.
^ Northern Arizona uses "Lumberjacks" as its athletic nickname for both sexes. This contrasts with the other NCAA Division I school with that nickname, Stephen F. Austin State University—the latter school uses "Lumberjacks" only for men's teams and "Ladyjacks" for women's teams.
^ "Northern Arizona University". nauathletics.com.
^ "Northern Arizona" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2017-03-19. Retrieved 2017-03-18.
^ O'Bannon, Makayla (April 1, 2025). "Laura Dinkins named new head coach for women's basketball at Northern Arizona". Arizona Daily Sun. Retrieved April 1, 2025.

External links

Official website

[1] "Northern Arizona University Visual Identity Guide". Retrieved December 5, 2022.

[2] Northern Arizona uses "Lumberjacks" as its athletic nickname for both sexes. This contrasts with the other NCAA Division I school with that nickname, Stephen F. Austin State University—the latter school uses "Lumberjacks" only for men's teams and "Ladyjacks" for women's teams.

[3] "Northern Arizona University". nauathletics.com.

[4] "Northern Arizona" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2017-03-19. Retrieved 2017-03-18.

[5] O'Bannon, Makayla (April 1, 2025). "Laura Dinkins named new head coach for women's basketball at Northern Arizona". Arizona Daily Sun. Retrieved April 1, 2025.

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v t e Northern Arizona Lumberjacks women's basketball
Venues	Walkup Skydome (1977–present)
People	Head coaches
Seasons	List of seasons 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24 2024–25

v t e Northern Arizona University
Located in: Flagstaff, Arizona
Academics	W.A. Franke College of Business
Athletics	NAU Lumberjacks Football Men's basketball Women's basketball Cross country Ice hockey
Facilities	Ashurst Auditorium Lumberjack Stadium Walkup Skydome
History and media	2015 Northern Arizona University shooting KLJX-LP KNAU KPUB
People	Alumni
Founded: 1899 Students: 28,090 Endowment: $225.9 million

v t e Big Sky Conference women's basketball
Members	Eastern Washington Eagles Idaho Vandals Idaho State Bengals Montana Lady Griz Montana State Bobcats Northern Arizona Lumberjacks Northern Colorado Bears Portland State Vikings Sacramento State Hornets (leaving in 2026) Weber State Wildcats
Future teams	Southern Utah Thunderbirds Utah Tech Trailblazers (both joining in 2026)
Championships & awards	Big Sky Conference women's basketball tournament
Seasons	1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24 2024–25