(Phoenix, AZ) The Grand Canyon women’s basketball team took down New Mexico State 61-59 in an exciting buzzer beater finish from graduate guard Amara Grahamat GCU Arena Saturday afternoon.
The Lopes and Aggies battled back-and-forth the entire 40 minutes. There were 14 lead changes throughout the game, all the way down to the last second, literally.
“It’s going to be a physical battle,” GCU head coach Molly Miller said. “It’s always a fun one, little bit of a rivalry, next-to-state rivalry. We’re just going to come every game and we’ve got to prepare our best no matter who we’re playing and every game has to mean a lot to us because there’s a lot of implications through this regular season for the post season.
The Lopes (13-5, 6-1) had two players score in double figures, led by graduate forward Jay McChristine, who had 19 points, seven rebounds and two blocks off the bench.
“We thought it was a mismatch in Jay’s favor,” Miller said about Jay McChristine’s post presence. “She did a really good job of taking advantage of that and just kind of playing with a chip on her shoulder, she was tough down there.”
Graham tacked on 13 points and two steals and sophomore guard Tiarra Brown added nine points, seven rebounds and five steals.
GCU grabbed 31 rebounds in Saturday’s game compared to New Mexico State’s 29, led by McChristine’s seven boards.
The Lopes forced 22 New Mexico State turnovers, turning those takeaways into 19 points on the offensive end of the floor. Brown’s five steals led the way for GCU.
After jumping out to a 7-5 advantage in the first quarter, the Lopes went on a 6-0 run with 4:54 left in the first quarter to increase their lead to 13-5. New Mexico State then responded to tie things up at 13-13 heading into the second quarter. GCU capitalized on nine New Mexico State turnovers in the period, turning them into seven points on the other end of the floor.
New Mexico State took its first lead at 15-14 at the start of the second quarter before the Lopes responding by going on a 6-0 run, highlighted by a bucket from Graham, to take a 20-15 lead. The Aggies battled back to even it up again at 29-29 heading into halftime.
The Lopes broke the tie in the third quarter, outscoring New Mexico State 19-18 in the period to seize a 48-47 lead entering the fourth.
The Aggies fought their way to a 59-56 lead with 1:36 to go before Graham hit a huge 3 to tie it up at 59 points. With the clock winding down, the ball was given to Graham, who hit a game-winning shot just two weeks ago against Abilene Christian. And just like that, she did it again.
The buzzer went off just after the ball went in, but after reviewing the play, 0.3 seconds was added to the clock, which was not enough time for the Aggies to make a play.
“We’re getting some ‘March’ experience here early,” Miller said. “I don’t know if my ticker or my hair can take it, I’m probably gray underneath there but this is fun. It’s fun to come out on top in these close games.”
Up next, GCU plays its rescheduled game against Stephen F. Austin, who currently ranks first in the WAC with an undefeated 7-0 record in conference play, on Monday at GCU Arena at 6 p.m.
“It’s going to be a great challenge,” Miller said. “They’re good 1 through 5, any given person on their team that’s on the court can score double digits. We really have to take care of business defensively because they’re that skilled offensively.”
GCU and Stephen F. Austin both rank in the top-5 nationally for multiple defensive stat categories.
The Lopes rank second in the nation in steals per game (2), fourth in total steals (242) and turnovers forced per game (24.53) and rank seventh in turnover margin (plus-7.53).
The Ladyjacks lead the country in turnover margin (plus-9.89), rank second in turnovers forced per game (25.06) and fifth in steals per game (13.4) and total steals (241).
“They throw a lot at you defensively so zone, man, press, that’s two teams that are forcing a lot of turnovers so it’s going to be a defensive battle for sure.”
Press Release courtesy of Grand Canyon Athletics – Sierra Smith
