Upcoming Event: Women's Basketball at South Carolina on November 3, 2025 at TBA
W Basketball
TBA
at South Carolina
Grand Canyon University Athletics
Saturday, March 10
San Diego, CA
6 p.m.
Grand Canyon
vs
Alaska Anchorage
Players celebrated their first round win with fans in attendance at RIMAC Arena.
Preview: Alaska Anchorage - NCAA Division II West Regional Second Round
3/10/2012 6:40:00 AM | Women's Basketball
The 13th-ranked Grand Canyon University women's basketball team (24-3) will play eighth-ranked Alaska Anchorage (28-4) today at 6 p.m. (Arizona time) in the second round of the NCAA Division II West Region Championships, held at the RIMAC Arena in San Diego, Calif. GCU, the third seed in the tournament, defeated No. 6 seed Cal Poly Pomona, 49-48, yesterday in the first round. The Seawolves, who received the No. 2 seed in the tournament, defeated No. 7 seed Cal State LA, 65-56, yesterday to advance. Live audio, video and stats are available on www.gculopes.com.
VS. ALASKA ANCHORAGE: GCU is 2-11 against GNAC member Alaska Anchorage and last faced the Seawolves in a 63-55 defeat on Nov. 13, 2010 in the Disney Classic. The Antelopes were awarded the third seed in this year’s West Region, while the Seawolves are the second seed.
LAST TIME OUT: GCU defeated Cal Poly Pomona 49-48 in the first round of the West Region Championships yesterday. The ‘Lopes were led by Maylinn Smith with 15 points and Jallisa Butler with 12 points. The win avenged last season’s Sweet 16 loss to the Broncos. Full story.
CHAMPS!: GCU captured the outright PacWest crown with their win over Dixie State on March 3, the fifth time in the last six seasons that GCU has done so. Their win over Cal Baptist on March 1 secured the PacWest’s automatic berth to the NCAA Division II Tournament for GCU.
HONOR ROLL: Trent May was named 2011-12 PacWest Coach of the Year for the fourth time in his five seasons at the helm of GCU. Maylinn Smith was named PacWest Player of the Year, while Jallisa Butler garnered PacWest First-Team honors. Smith was also named to the Daktronics Second-Team West Region earlier this week. Full story.
POSTSEASON HISTORY: The GCU women are making their sixth overall postseason appearance and fifth in the NCAA (also competed in 1989 for NAIA). They competed in the NCAA tournament in 1997, 2004, 2009 and 2011. Their best finish came last season when they advanced to the Sweet 16 for the first time in school history before falling to Cal Poly Pomona in the West Region Finals. GCU is 3-4 in NCAA postseason play and have advanced past the first round twice.
GETTING IT GOING EARLY: The ‘Lopes have outscored the opposition 915-622 in the first half of their 27 games and have scored at least 35 points in the first half 12 times. The ‘Lopes scored a season-high 51 first-half points on Feb. 20 vs. BYU-Hawai’i. GCU has allowed a season-low 13 first half points three times this season. The ‘Lopes have trailed at the half in only two of their games.
FEELING AT HOME…ON THE ROAD: GCU finished 11-0 on the road this season, the first time in school history they won each of their regular season games away from home. They have now won 18 consecutive regular season road games (16 straight conference road games) dating back to last season. GCU averaged 66.5 points-per-game on the road and 64.8 points-per-game at home.
AMONG THE NCAA’S BEST: GCU finished among the best NCAA Division II schools in a number of categories: first with 50.3 points-per-game-allowed, second with an 11.2 rebounding margin, third with a 32.1 defensive field goal percentage, ninth with an 88.5 won-lost percentage and 10th with a 15.3 scoring margin. Individually, Maylinn Smith’s 87.5 free throw percentage was 11th.
PACWEST STAT SPEAK: Among PacWest teams this season, GCU’s 41.7 field goal percentage and 33.4 three-point percentage was second to Hawai’i Pacific’s 43.2 and 35.3 percentages, while their 72.6 free throw percentage was third behind Notre Dame de Namur (73.5) and Hawai’i Hilo (72.4). GCU led the conference with an 11.2 rebounding margin. Individually, Jallisa Butler finished second with a 63.2 field goal percentage and third with 9.5 rebounds-per-game, while Maylinn Smith’s 16.2 points-per-game ranked third.
SMITH KEEPS SCORING: Maylinn Smith has recorded double-digit scoring in 25 games this season, including a career-high 34 point performance at Academy of Art of Feb. 25, a game in which she also set a school record and tied the PacWest record with eight three-pointers made (also: Richelle Rieben from BYU-Hawai'i vs. Chaminade on Feb. 11, 2011). Smith was named PacWest Player of the Week for her efforts in games contested Feb. 20-26.
BUTLER’S IMPACT: Jallisa Butler has set career-highs in both rebounds and points this season with 19 boards on Dec. 10 at San Francisco State and 21 points on Jan. 28 at BYU-Hawai’i. She has been named PacWest Conference Women’s Player of the Week twice: for Dec. 5-11 and Jan. 16-22.
FRAZIER, MS. CONSISTENCY: Senior forward Joslynn Frazier has found her groove, scoring a career-best 20 points in GCU’s 86-33 victory over Chaminade on Feb. 22. She has 108 points in the last 12 games (9.0 average) and has had double-digit points five times.
JENNA FOR THREE!: Jenna Pearson drained six three-pointers en route to scoring a career-high 20 points on Feb. 20 vs. BYU-Hawai’i.
CINDY ON THE BLOCKS: Cindy Ekweozor has a team-high 26 blocks this season, fourth-most in the PacWest. She collected four blocks on Feb. 20 vs. BYU-Hawai’i, one shy of the single-game record of five set by Jackie Stevens on Feb. 14, 2009 vs. Notre Dame de Namur.
ALOHA!: GCU went 7-1 against the Hawai’i teams this season and overall since joining the conference, are 51-5 against those teams.
CONFERENCE PLAY: The Antelopes finished 15-3 en route to winning their fifth PacWest title. Since joining the conference in 2006, the ‘Lopes have posted an 81-13 mark overall and have won 15 games four times: in 2006-07, 2007-08, 2010-11 and 2011-12.
IN THE POLLS: GCU opened the season ranked 14th in the USA Today/ESPN Division II Preseason Top 25 Coaches Poll and were as high as ninth on Nov. 29. GCU was 13th in the final poll.
More notes...
Postseason History
VS. ALASKA ANCHORAGE: GCU is 2-11 against GNAC member Alaska Anchorage and last faced the Seawolves in a 63-55 defeat on Nov. 13, 2010 in the Disney Classic. The Antelopes were awarded the third seed in this year’s West Region, while the Seawolves are the second seed.
LAST TIME OUT: GCU defeated Cal Poly Pomona 49-48 in the first round of the West Region Championships yesterday. The ‘Lopes were led by Maylinn Smith with 15 points and Jallisa Butler with 12 points. The win avenged last season’s Sweet 16 loss to the Broncos. Full story.
CHAMPS!: GCU captured the outright PacWest crown with their win over Dixie State on March 3, the fifth time in the last six seasons that GCU has done so. Their win over Cal Baptist on March 1 secured the PacWest’s automatic berth to the NCAA Division II Tournament for GCU.
HONOR ROLL: Trent May was named 2011-12 PacWest Coach of the Year for the fourth time in his five seasons at the helm of GCU. Maylinn Smith was named PacWest Player of the Year, while Jallisa Butler garnered PacWest First-Team honors. Smith was also named to the Daktronics Second-Team West Region earlier this week. Full story.
POSTSEASON HISTORY: The GCU women are making their sixth overall postseason appearance and fifth in the NCAA (also competed in 1989 for NAIA). They competed in the NCAA tournament in 1997, 2004, 2009 and 2011. Their best finish came last season when they advanced to the Sweet 16 for the first time in school history before falling to Cal Poly Pomona in the West Region Finals. GCU is 3-4 in NCAA postseason play and have advanced past the first round twice.
GETTING IT GOING EARLY: The ‘Lopes have outscored the opposition 915-622 in the first half of their 27 games and have scored at least 35 points in the first half 12 times. The ‘Lopes scored a season-high 51 first-half points on Feb. 20 vs. BYU-Hawai’i. GCU has allowed a season-low 13 first half points three times this season. The ‘Lopes have trailed at the half in only two of their games.
FEELING AT HOME…ON THE ROAD: GCU finished 11-0 on the road this season, the first time in school history they won each of their regular season games away from home. They have now won 18 consecutive regular season road games (16 straight conference road games) dating back to last season. GCU averaged 66.5 points-per-game on the road and 64.8 points-per-game at home.
AMONG THE NCAA’S BEST: GCU finished among the best NCAA Division II schools in a number of categories: first with 50.3 points-per-game-allowed, second with an 11.2 rebounding margin, third with a 32.1 defensive field goal percentage, ninth with an 88.5 won-lost percentage and 10th with a 15.3 scoring margin. Individually, Maylinn Smith’s 87.5 free throw percentage was 11th.
PACWEST STAT SPEAK: Among PacWest teams this season, GCU’s 41.7 field goal percentage and 33.4 three-point percentage was second to Hawai’i Pacific’s 43.2 and 35.3 percentages, while their 72.6 free throw percentage was third behind Notre Dame de Namur (73.5) and Hawai’i Hilo (72.4). GCU led the conference with an 11.2 rebounding margin. Individually, Jallisa Butler finished second with a 63.2 field goal percentage and third with 9.5 rebounds-per-game, while Maylinn Smith’s 16.2 points-per-game ranked third.
SMITH KEEPS SCORING: Maylinn Smith has recorded double-digit scoring in 25 games this season, including a career-high 34 point performance at Academy of Art of Feb. 25, a game in which she also set a school record and tied the PacWest record with eight three-pointers made (also: Richelle Rieben from BYU-Hawai'i vs. Chaminade on Feb. 11, 2011). Smith was named PacWest Player of the Week for her efforts in games contested Feb. 20-26.
BUTLER’S IMPACT: Jallisa Butler has set career-highs in both rebounds and points this season with 19 boards on Dec. 10 at San Francisco State and 21 points on Jan. 28 at BYU-Hawai’i. She has been named PacWest Conference Women’s Player of the Week twice: for Dec. 5-11 and Jan. 16-22.
FRAZIER, MS. CONSISTENCY: Senior forward Joslynn Frazier has found her groove, scoring a career-best 20 points in GCU’s 86-33 victory over Chaminade on Feb. 22. She has 108 points in the last 12 games (9.0 average) and has had double-digit points five times.
JENNA FOR THREE!: Jenna Pearson drained six three-pointers en route to scoring a career-high 20 points on Feb. 20 vs. BYU-Hawai’i.
CINDY ON THE BLOCKS: Cindy Ekweozor has a team-high 26 blocks this season, fourth-most in the PacWest. She collected four blocks on Feb. 20 vs. BYU-Hawai’i, one shy of the single-game record of five set by Jackie Stevens on Feb. 14, 2009 vs. Notre Dame de Namur.
ALOHA!: GCU went 7-1 against the Hawai’i teams this season and overall since joining the conference, are 51-5 against those teams.
CONFERENCE PLAY: The Antelopes finished 15-3 en route to winning their fifth PacWest title. Since joining the conference in 2006, the ‘Lopes have posted an 81-13 mark overall and have won 15 games four times: in 2006-07, 2007-08, 2010-11 and 2011-12.
IN THE POLLS: GCU opened the season ranked 14th in the USA Today/ESPN Division II Preseason Top 25 Coaches Poll and were as high as ninth on Nov. 29. GCU was 13th in the final poll.
More notes...
Postseason History
Non-Conference Schedule Release | GCU Women's Basketball
Monday, August 18
Mic'd Up: Sidney Anderson & Karley Johnson | Women's Hoops
Monday, August 11
Mic'd Up: Kaitlyn Elsholz | Women's Hoops
Monday, August 11
Chats with Jules | Women’s Basketball
Sunday, August 10