(Las Vegas, NV) Coming off over a week hiatus, the re-energized Antelopes and Coach Molly Miller were ready to light up Las Vegas.
With the hype, glitter and everything Vegas had to offer GCU was ready to get after it after a much needed rest to mend nagging injuries and bring their legs back from fatigue.
These two squads met back on February 6th and 7th with the Lopes taking both games. First came the blowout 77-55 and a night later a solid 83-73 victory.
GCU was led by FirstTeam All WAC, Freshman of the year and Newcomer of the year, Katie Scott who had 39 points combined for both games.
With just 125 fans per team allowed under the covid restriction, GCU used their allotment and brought the Havocs in and ready to rumble.
The Antelopes came out of the gate strong, hitting half of their first eight shots and a quick 10-0 lead forcing a UT-RGV timeout.
The Vaqueros scored out of the timeout with a coast to coast inbounds pass that caught GCU sleeping. They continued on a 5-0 run until Lopes guard Taylor Caldwell hit a sixteen footer than just crept over the front of the rim, 12-5 GCU at the 4:47 mark.
The Vaquero’s Sara Bershers kept the pressure on hitting a turnaround jumper that brought UT-RGV within a basket at 12-10.
Miller turned up the defense and shut down UT-RGV, holding them scoreless the last 3:43 of the first quarter and led after the opening stanza 18-10.
GCU began the second quarter on an 8-2 run, highlighted by Ny’dajah Jackson’s trey forcing another Vaquero timeout. 26-12.
Taylor Caldwell torched the net with her own three out of the timeout and the Antelopes kept the hammer down now adding to their 16-4 run since the second quarter began.
UT-RGV gathered themselves in the middle of the quarter, but the hole they had dug themselves against the #3 seed Antelopes would be difficult to climb out of.
In the first half, the Lopes found they could blow by UT-RGV’s “matador defense” in the key for high percentage layups.
Grand Canyon led 43-22 and played almost a flawless half, only turning over the rock three times. Miller’s shooters made half their shots from beyond the arc. One of the biggest stats was the 7 steals the Lopes had adding to their stellar play.
At the eight minute mark of the third quarter, Scott came down awkwardly and appeared to have injured her leg. Miller quickly substituted with Kennedi Shorts.
The game got sloppy towards the end of the quarter with the Vaqueros with three consecutive turnovers. With all that, UT-RGV actually outscored the Katie Scott-less Antelopes by one point 14-13 in the third quarter but still trailed 56-36.
At the start of the final quarter, it appeared that this UT-RGV team just had the life sucked out of them by a stellar GCU effort.
They were slow getting back on defense, and did not show a lot of efforts which angered Coach Lane Lord who gave his Vaqueros an earful. This is win or go home time, and its never okay to just lay down.
Scott had come back late in the quarter, in what looked like Coach Miller just seeing how the leg would respond. With the game well in hand, the last thing you want is an unnecessary injury on Day 1 of the tournament.
Both teams just played out the string the rest of the game. UT-RGV outscored Canyon in the second half, out scoring them 32-23.
Canyon was held scoreless in the last 8:01 of the game, but the damaged was done long ago in the first half.
Final Score 67-54 as the Antelopes took care of business and will come back Friday for the semi-finals of the tournament.
GCU had nine players who scored as they spread the wealth and only Tianna Brown and Jackson hitting double figures with 16 and 11 points respectively.
Coach Miller was happy with the win especially after the eleven day layoff.
She skirted the question on the status of Katie Scott’s leg injury in the post game press conference. With a day off tomorrow, this can only help the situation.
Next up is a rematch with Utah Valley University. With a victory and a chance for a final game for all the marbles with conference champion, California Baptist who opens there tournament play tomorrow.
