GCU uses 26-point 4th quarter to win 71-54, sweep Tarleton
(Phoenix, AZ) There are opposing teams with the speed or the size to hang with the Grand Canyon women’s basketball team, but rarely does a team bring the mental or physical stamina to last until the final round of a fight with the Lopes.
It is difficult enough to handle GCU’s persistently relentless defense for one night. Doing it a night later is proving harder for opponents after the Lopes followed Monday’s 64-55 win against Tarleton with a more authoritative 71-54 conference win Tuesday night at GCU Arena.
The Lopes (11-3 overall, 3-1 WAC) are outscoring opponents in the fourth quarter by an average of 11.5 points over the past four games, including Tuesday night’s 26-17 differential that put away the Texans and boosted GCU into second place in the WAC.
The improvement from Day 1 to Day 2 in each of GCU’s first two back-to-back conference sets is a good omen, along with the nation’s top defense for opponent turnovers. Tarleton made 22 turnovers on Tuesday and it was actually the second-lowest GCU opponent total for a team inducing 26.3 miscues per game.
The Texans handled the backcourt pressure better but the Lopes’ half-court defense kept them to 31% shooting. A night after a sluggish start, GCU shut out Tarleton for 6:47 of the first quarter for a 14-0 run. At one point, the Texans made four consecutive turnovers, starting with freshman guard Tiarra Browntaking a full-speed charge and her sister, junior Tianna Brown, steal an upcourt pass.
“We were just flying around defensively in that first quarter,” GCU head coach Molly Miller said. “That was kind of a thing of beauty to watch. We have a saying, ‘If it’s not your assignment, it’s your assignment.’ Whoever’s open, you guard and you get down in a stance. If you need to help the helper, you help the helper. You take mine. You fly around. You saw that a lot early, which set the tone for the game.”
Lopes junior point guard Laura Piera went 4 for 4 from the field in the first quarter and finished the game with 17 points, playing with endless effort on both ends.
“We figured out what we were doing wrong so we came back with ideas like really clear,” Piera said. “We were like, ‘This game has to be us,’ so we have to start all the way up.”
GCU players moved without the ball better Tuesday, creating more space and making the Texans work as hard defensively to follow Lopes as they did offensively to manage the pressure.
The Lopes never trailed after the game’s first 90 seconds, but the Texans were tenacious enough to pull within six, 45-39, at the start of the fourth quarter.
Then freshman center Katie Scott went to work. Scott scored 10 of GCU’s 26 fourth-quarter points to finish with 20 points on 8-of-12 shooting in 22 minutes of play.
“It’s when the other team is the most tired,” Scott said. “Thanks to her (Piera) and a couple others, they (the Texans) are kind of defenseless at that point. I feel like that’s when we get our spark and that’s when we just put teams away. It’s always a fun fourth quarter for me and the team.”
GCU scored nine points in one late-game minute to ice the win. Playing the entire second half, Piera set up a Tiarra Brown jumper and scored on a drive and a 3-pointer for a 69-51 lead.
“She has probably the most passion of any player I’ve played with,” Scott said of Piera. “She gets me going on days when I don’t want to be going, that’s for sure. She’s just a great team leader and I think that she’s really stepped up this year. It’s been fun to see her grow up. I feel almost like a mom as a freshman looking up, like, look at my little LP, when she’s yelling at me.”
Contributions came form beyond GCU’s top scorers. Senior guard Ny’Dajah Jackson grabbed a season-high seven rebounds. Tianna Brown led the team with four assists and added three steals. Senior Taylor Caldwell delivered a line of 11 points, five rebounds and three assists.
“There were a couple plays out there where TC (Caldwell) and LP (Piera) probably guarded all five on the court in one possession,” Miller said. “They were just flying around that much.”
Press Release courtesy of Grand Canyon Athletics – Paul Coro
