'Lopes Fall in Conference Opener

Saturday, December 3

GCU Arena

4:30 p.m.

Grand Canyon

4-1, 0-1

Notre Dame de Namur

2-3, 1-0

Notre Dame de Namur

Grand Canyon

Joslynn Frazier

Photo by: Roy Dabner

12/3/2011 6:24:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

The No. 9 Grand Canyon University women’s basketball team suffered their first loss of the season at the hands of Notre Dame de Namur, 63-59, in their PacWest conference opener at Grand Canyon University Arena. The loss snapped a streak of 19 consecutive home wins and 19 consecutive regular season wins for GCU.

“We lost our first conference game last year as well and made it to the Sweet 16,” said head coach Trent May. “We are a very good and capable team. We will stick together and work hard.”

GCU shot just 14.3 percent from the field over the first four and a half minutes before going 8-for-18 (44 percent) for the remainder of the first half. The ‘Lopes trailed by as many as 8 points while the Argonauts shot over 40 percent for most of the half.

“We’ve been getting off to a slow start all season and it was something that we talked about all week heading into tonight’s game,” said May. “A slow start has somewhat become a burden as we often have to play from behind and tonight we did the same thing.”

The ‘Lopes had an 11-0 run to close out the first half, taking their first lead of the game, 25-23, with three minutes remaining and heading into the locker room with a 28-23 advantage. Maylinn Smith and Stevie Kamp each added four points during the streak. Smith finished the game with 10 points in her fifth consecutive double-digit scoring game.

“We weren’t able to take advantage of the opportunities that we had,” added May. “We got a lead, not a big lead, but enough to try to withstand the other team. Defensively, we had a bit of a breakdown. Right now, we are not really organized on both sides of the ball, but we will get there. They have a lot of good players and they made the plays they needed to. They are a well-coached team.”

GCU was outscored 40-31 in the second half as the Argonauts used an 8-1 run with almost 17 minutes left to tie the game at 36. Notre Dame shot 45 percent (9-for-20) from the field in the second half, including 13 points from freshman guard Taylor Dewees. Neither team led by more than four points until the ‘Lopes took a 57-51 lead with just under four minutes left. The Argonauts then used a 12-2 stretch over the final three and a half minutes to secure the win.

Kamp put together her best performance of the young season, scoring a season-high 11 points and adding eight rebounds and two steals.

“Stevie really played hard tonight. She has great intensity and a heart of gold,” May said. “When you always give it your all, it is going to pay off for you. Tonight, she did a tremendous job.”

GCU will next be in action when they travel to San Francisco to take on non-conference foes Cal State Stanislaus on Dec. 9 and San Francisco State on Dec. 10. Both games are slated to start at 5:30 p.m. Arizona time.

NDNU 63 GCU 59