Coach Loree Payne and her Northern Arizona women’s team took huge strides in her second season at the helm. From last season to this year, they doubled their conference win total, finished 4th in the conference in scoring and won their first Big Sky Tournament game in 12 years. The team was led by Senior Kaleigh Paplow, who leaves the school ranked in the top 10 in 5 categories: steals, assists, scoring, minutes played and rebounds. 
The key to maintaining the levels they reached this year? Recruiting talented young ladies. With only 2 seniors who saw big minutes this season, NAU has several gifted underclassmen waiting in the wings to leave their mark as well as a stellar incoming recruiting class. Six-foot forward Sanjana Ramesh, only the 2nd Indian-born female player to receive a Division I scholarship and All-State performer Emily Rodabaugh of Lynwood, WA headline next year’s recruiting class.
— Arvin Mosley, Jr.