(Stephenville, Texas) The Grand Canyon women’s basketball team earned its second consecutive road win Saturday, rallying impressively to complete a Texas trip sweep by defeating Tarleton 47-37.
“It’s never easy to win on the road in the WAC,” GCU head coach Molly Millersaid. “To get two this trip was a really good confidence booster for our team going into another tough week next week.”
The Lopes scoring was led by graduate guard Amara Graham, sophomore Tiarra Brown and freshman Naudia Evans with eight points apiece.
Led by graduate forward Jay McChristine’s seven offensive rebounds, the Lopes were all over the offensive glass, pulling down 14 boards that resulted in nine second-chance points.
GCU forced 33 Tarleton turnovers and turned those takeaways into 19 points on the offensive end of the floor to come back from an early 15-point deficit with a 43-18 finish to the game. Brown and freshman point guard Kiyley Flowers led the defense with three steals each.
“Forcing 33 turnovers was really the story in that game,” Miller said. “How we picked it up defensively and just had some good hustle plays. That’s what we needed to do when we weren’t playing great basketball. Energy and the effort and the hustle had to be at the forefront.”
The Lopes got off to a slow start, getting on the scoreboard over five minutes into the quarter with a Graham layup. GCU trailed 15-4 at the end of the first quarter.
Tarleton added to that lead in the second, building a 19-4 advantage before GCU went on a 6-0 run to cut its deficit to 19-10. The Lopes continued to chip away, reducing the Tarleton lead to 21-14 heading into the halftime break.
“Obviously not a great first half,” Miller said. “But we had a lot of confidence only being down seven going into halftime and playing that poorly. I thought our defense really sparked our offense the second half. That’s what we said: ‘When shots aren’t falling, we’re going to have to rely on our defense.”
Following halftime, the Lopes came running out of the gate with a 14-2 run to grab a 30-23 lead at the 2:40 mark. GCU scored a game-high 19 points in the third quarter and held the Texans to six points to head into the final quarter with a 33-27 advantage. Ten of GCU’s 19 points were scored in the paint.
The Lopes continued their lead with an 8-0 run to grow the lead to 47-34 with 55 seconds to go in the contest. The Texans narrowed the margin somewhat before the game was over, but GCU still cruised the rest of the way for the 47-37 win. The Lopes took advantage of their opportunities in the post, scoring eight of their 14 points in the paint.
GCU’s freshmen have continued to step up this season. Guards Naudia Evansand Ja’Mya Powell-Smith earned spots in the starting lineup and continued to show how they have expanded their roles.
“I told our freshmen they can’t be freshmen anymore,” Miller said. “They’ve got to understand the pace and the speed and the brand of college basketball. I really have a lot of confidence in them out there. They’re making the right plays. The biggest thing is they’re bought in 110% and they also have that defensive mindset. To watch them fly around and make an impact on the court, that just makes us deeper and better as we go into this second half of the season.”
GCU heads back home for matchups against Stephen F. Austin and Sam Houston, starting with the Lumberjacks’ Thursday visit at 6 p.m.
“They are all that they have been hyped up to be,” Miller said of Stephen F. Austin. “There’s a reason why they’re making the (NCAA) tournament and they’re sitting at the top of the conference right now. We’ve got to regroup and really focus in on what we can do well but also how we can take advantage of maybe some of their brand and it’s going to be a good game. I’m glad we get to play at home and, hopefully, we can have a great turnout and have that sixth-man affect for what’s going to be a great matchup.”
Thursday’s matchup against the WAC leaders will be a battle between the nation’s top steals team in GCU and the nation’s No. 1 turnover margin team in Stephen F. Austin.
“This is two of the best defensive teams in the conference,” Miller said. “Not only in the conference, but in the nation. We’ve got to do a good job of taking care of the basketball ourselves but continue to apply the defensive pressure that has made us successful. It’s definitely going to be a defensive battle, hopefully not too sloppy with the number of turnovers, but we’re going to work on that this week for sure.”
Press Release courtesy of Grand Canyon University Athletics – Sierra Smith
