No. 16 Women's Hoops Wins Eighth Straight

Saturday, December 15

GCU Arena

2:00 PM

Grand Canyon

9-2, 3-0

Fresno Pacific

0-9, 0-3

Fresno Pacific

Grand Canyon

Maylinn Smith

Photo by: Darryl Webb

12/15/2012 4:01:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

Improve to 3-0 in PacWest with win over Fresno Pacific

The 16^th-ranked Grand Canyon University women’s basketball team defeated visiting Fresno Pacific, 97-59, today in a Pacific West Conference matchup at GCU Arena. The win was the eighth straight for the Antelopes, who improved to 9-2 overall and 3-0 in PacWest play. The Sunbirds fell to 0-9 overall and 0-3 in the conference.

The 97 points mark a new season-high for GCU and the most since they scored 105 points on Jan. 27, 2011 vs. Chaminade. The ‘Lopes shot over 50 percent for the third time this season as they posted a 52.1 field goal percentage (37-for-71).

GCU held a significant advantage in a number of categories, including rebounds (55-42), points in the paint (48-24), points off turnovers (26-10) and second chance points (18-9).

“They are doing a good job of sharing the ball,” said head coach Trent May. “It is important to be efficient on offense and they are making that happen. We emphasize rebounding a lot and the team is truly grasping that that is also a part of what we do. Some aspects that you want to be great at are sharing the ball and rebounding. Usually the score will indicate a victory when you do those things.”

Judy Jones established a new GCU career-high with 34 points, as she also recorded her sixth straight double-double with 10 rebounds. Erica Paskell and Maylinn Smith also scored in double-figures for GCU, as they collected 12 and 14, respectively.

The ‘Lopes got off to a fast start, making four of their first five shots to build an early 10-2 lead. The Sunbirds would come as close as four points, 12-8, with 15 minutes to play in the first half, but GCU took control of the game and posted their first double-digit lead of the game at 23-12 with just over 11 minutes remaining.

Fresno pulled within six points at 25-19 at the 9:44 mark, but were outscored 8-1 over the next two and a half minutes as GCU build a 33-20 advantage. GCU’s defense did not allow a Sunbirds point for nearly four minutes as the ‘Lopes built a 42-24 lead with just under three minutes to play in the half.

GCU allowed just three more points in the half and finished the first 20 minutes with a 20-point lead, 47-27, as they shot 48.6 percent (18-for-37) from the field and drained six of their 12 three-point attempts. GCU was led into the locker room by Jones, who had already recorded her seventh straight double-digit scoring game with 16 points at the half. Smith added 10 points in the first 20 minutes.

The Sunbirds opened the second half by scoring the first four points and pulled within 14 points before GCU regained a 20-point lead at 55-35 with 16:16 to play. At that point, the ‘Lopes went on an 11-4 run to build their lead to 66-39 with 12:39 remaining in the game.

GCU allowed just two more Fresno points over the next four minutes as they extended their lead to 74-41 with just under nine minutes to play. The ‘Lopes went on to lead by as many as 42 points in the contest.

“It is huge to start 3-0 in the conference,” said May. “We have stumbled out of the gates in the past few years. There are so many good coaches in the conference. Teams want to come in and take us out and we always have a target on our back. We want to turn the table and put the target on their backs.”

The ‘Lopes will now travel to Las Vegas, Nev., for the South Point Holiday Hoops Classic on Dec. 18 and 19 at the South Point Arena. GCU will face No. 25 UW-Parkside on Tuesday at 2 p.m. (Arizona time) and No. 21 Western Washington on Wednesday at 4 p.m. (Arizona time). Fans can follow the action via live stats by visiting www.gculopes.com.

“We will get back at it on Monday and prepare to play two really good teams on Tuesday and Wednesday,” added May. “In the midst of everything going on this time of year, we have to stay focused.”

GCU 97, FPU 59