No. 18 'Lopes Win Fourth Straight

Saturday, January 19

GCU Arena

1:00 PM

Grand Canyon

15-4, 7-1

Point Loma

5-9, 2-5

Point Loma Nazarene

Grand Canyon

Maylinn Smith

Photo by: Darryl Webb

1/19/2013 3:02:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

Defeat Point Loma at home to improve to 7-1 in PacWest play

The No. 18 Grand Canyon University women’s basketball team won their fourth straight contest with a 68-45 victory over visiting Point Loma today at GCU Arena. With the win, the Antelopes improved to 15-4 overall and 7-1 in Pacific West Conference play, while the Sea Lions fell to 5-9 overall and 2-5 in the conference.

The win also improved GCU's home record to 9-0 this season.

Postgame reaction from assistant coach Milee Karre can be viewed here.

GCU was led by Maylinn Smith with 13 points, while Judy Jones had 11 points and Chigozie Ekweozor finished with 10. The ‘Lopes held a significant advantage in rebounds, 55-24, and were able to score 32 points in the paint. GCU also was aided by 24 points off the bench.

The game was tightly contested for the first five minutes with neither team leading by more than three points until Point Loma opened their largest advantage at four points, 14-10, with 14 and a half minutes remaining in the half. GCU took a 15-14 lead after scoring five unanswered points, but the Sea Lions then used a 4-0 run of their own to reclaim the lead, 18-15, with 12:47 on the clock.

At that point in the half, the game went back and forth until GCU’s 13-2 run handed them an eight-point lead, 28-20, with just over seven minutes to play. The ‘Lopes built their first double-digit advantage with 4:53 to go in the first, 35-25, following a 19-7 run over the previous seven minutes.

GCU carried their largest lead of the half into the locker room, 41-29, thanks to a 46.9 field goal percentage (15-for-32), including draining three of their six attempts from beyond the arc. The ‘Lopes were led at the half by Jones with nine points, while Smith added seven points. Point Loma shot 42.3 percent from the field (11-for-26) in the first 20 minutes, although they were limited to just nine points in the final 10 minutes of the first half.

The two teams were unable to get their offense going at the start of the second half, as both scored only four points in the first nine minutes. The ‘Lopes then used a 13-4 run to extend their advantage to 58-37, which would match their largest of the contest at the time, with just over five minutes to play.

The teams then traded baskets while the ‘Lopes were able to build their largest lead at 23 points, 68-45, to close out the contest. Both teams shot 27 percent from the field in the final 20 minutes, although the ‘Lopes were once again able to make half of their three-point attempts (4-for-8).

The ‘Lopes will continue their four-game home stretch when they host Azusa Pacific on Monday, Jan. 21 at 1 p.m. Fans can follow the action via live video by visiting www.gculopes.com.

GCU 68, PLNU 45