No. 13 'Lopes Fall to Alaska Anchorage in West Region Semifinals

Saturday, March 10

San Diego, CA

6 p.m.

Grand Canyon

24-4

Alaska Anchorage

29-4

Grand Canyon

Alaska Anchorage

Jallisa Butler

No. 13 'Lopes Fall to Alaska Anchorage in West Region Semifinals

3/10/2012 7:41:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

The No. 13 Grand Canyon University women’s basketball team, the third seed in the NCAA West Regionals, fell to No. 2 seed Alaska Anchorage 77-58 in the semifinals at RIMAC Arena in San Diego, Calif. The Antelopes finished the season with a 24-4 record, while the Seawolves improved to 29-4.

“I give a lot of credit to the Alaska Anchorage team and to their staff, they sustained our runs and showed great control,” said head coach Trent May. “They stayed consistent. They looked very ready to come out and play in the second half and persevered. I still think we played some great defense, unfortunately we just got in situations we couldn’t get out of.”

The ‘Lopes posted a 37.3 field goal percentage (19-for-51) in the contest and were led by Maylinn Smith with 18 points and Jallisa Butler with 11 points. Alaska Anchorage shot 55.1 percent (27-for-49) from the field and were led by Hanna Johansson with 22 points.

“Hanna is a great player,” said Stevie Kamp. “She did a great job tonight.”

GCU was outrebounded 34-25, just the fourth time this season the ‘Lopes have not led on the boards.

GCU shot 42.9 percent (9-for-21) from the field in the first half, including a 3-for-4 mark from behind the arc. The ‘Lopes also made nine of their 10 free throws in the period. The Seawolves shot 48.0 percent (12-for-25) in the first half.

GCU scored first in the contest, but Alaska Anchorage answered with an 8-0 run before the ‘Lopes tacked on four more points to make the score 8-6 with just over 14 minutes in the half. The Seawolves controlled the lead for most of the first half before GCU regained the lead at 22-20 with a Smith three-pointer with 6:54 on the clock.

The two teams then traded leads until Stevie Kamp drained two free throws with 14.2 seconds remaining to give the ‘Lopes a 30-28 advantage heading into the locker room. All said, there were five tied scores and eight lead changes in the first half.

Smith led the ‘Lopes into the half with eight points, while Angelina Dennison and Kamp each added four points.

GCU opened the second half on an 11-8 run to take a 41-36 lead into the first media timeout of the period. The ‘Lopes were then outscored 21-1 over the next eight minutes as Alaska Anchorage took a 57-42 lead with 8:48 to play.

The Seawolves led by as many as 17 points in the second half as they shot 62.5 percent (15-for-24) from the field in the period. GCU pulled within 10 points at 63-53 with just under five minutes to play, but Alaska Anchorage regained a 16-point lead at the 2:12 mark (69-53).

“We were stagnant on offense and I think it wore on us a little bit not scoring on the other end,” said May. “It felt like we were trying to stop the bleeding. I still think we had a good, solid presence, but our shots just weren’t going in. And they capitalized on their looks.”

Smith came down the floor and made a three-pointer to make it a 69-56 game with just under two minutes to play. GCU also made it a 13-point game at 71-58, but that is the closest they would come as the Seawolves closed out the game on a 6-0 run to post a final score of 77-58.

“Instantly as a staff before this season, we had high expectations,” May added. “It wasn’t a surprise to me that we won the other night. We expected to win the conference and we did. I’m grateful to have had the opportunity to work with this team. The score doesn’t reflect it, but I felt like we were really close to the Sweet 16 again. This team believed in each other and their abilities.”

“I think we learned this season that we can persevere through a lot,” said Butler. “We stayed together and stayed focus all season. We worked hard to get here.”

UAA 77, GCU 58