GCU Clinches Share of PacWest Title

Wednesday, March 2

Laie, HI

8:00 p.m.

Grand Canyon

26-2, 14-1

BYU-Hawai'i

5-19, 4-11

GCU-WBB

BYU-Hawai'i

Head coach Trent May talks to his team during a timeout. GCU won a share of the PacWest championship at BYU-Hawai'i Wednesday.

3/2/2011 6:57:16 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

Antelopes can win outright title Saturday

By: Steve Heath

Grand Canyon clinched a share of the Pacific West Conference championship with an 80-45 victory over BYU-Hawai’i at the Cannon Activities Center in Laie, Hawai’i Wednesday.

GCU (26-2, 14-1) won its 14th straight game and will have a chance to be the outright PacWest champion with a win over Hawai’i Pacific at Chaminade’s McCabe Gym Saturday at 3 pm (Mountain Time).

“Our goal was to get our conference championship back and get back to the national tournament,” said GCU coach Trent May. “We’re going to the national tournament and now we have a conference championship. It’s a good night for Grand Canyon.”

The Pacific West Conference champion and tournament champions from the California Collegiate Athletic Association and Great Northwest Athletic Conference will get automatic bids into the NCAA West Region. Five more at-large berths will be awarded to teams from the three conferences to make up the eight-team tournament field.

GCU is ranked No. 3 in the West Region – this week’s rankings were released Wednesday – and No. 8 in the nation in the USA Today/ESPN Division II Top 25 Coaches’ Poll.

With its high regional and national ranking, GCU has all but assured itself of one of the eight spots.

Grand Canyon has won or shared four of the last five PacWest titles, including championships in 2007, 2008 and 2009.

Samantha Murphy led GCU with 22 points, 16 in the first half, and nine rebounds. Jallisa Butler had 13. Maylinn Smith scored 11. Rosalyn Nelson had five points, five rebounds, seven assists and four steals.

Nelson’s been a part of all four championship teams. She was out last season with a medical redshirt.

“That’s what we strive for early in the season,” said Nelson of the conference title. “I’ve been blessed to be part of it all four years.”

Grand Canyon jumped out to a 20-2 lead and led 44-19 at halftime.

“Everybody played well and shared the ball well tonight,” said Murphy.

The game can be seen on delayed broadcast on BYU-TV at 12:30 a.m. The channel is available in the Phoenix area on the following channels: Cox Communications (114), Qwest (139), DirecTV (374) and Dish Network (9403).

Box Score