Lopes suffer first loss at Duke

Thursday, November 17

Durham, NC

5:00 P.M.

Grand Canyon

1-1

Duke

4-0

Grand Canyon

Duke

Photo by: Duke Athletics

11/17/2016 8:30:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score GCU Post Game Press Conferece

By: Imani Suber

DURHAM, N.C. -- The Grand Canyon women's basketball program suffered its first loss of the season at the hands of Duke in a 90-47 outcome in Cameron Indoor Stadium on Thursday night.

Marina Laramie garnered a double-double with 22 points and 12 rebounds.

How it Happened
The Lopes started the contest with confidence quickly answering Duke's early points with a Jessica Gajewski 3-pointer off a Laura Marcos-Canedo pass to improve the score to 4-3. The Lopes went back-and-forth with the Blue Devils as they snatched back to back steals that led to a Marcos-Canedo jumper followed by a Laramie 3-pointer to tie the contest at 13-13.

While Duke quickly responded from beyond the arc, GCU answered with a Gajewski jumper to stay within one at 16-15 with 3:32 left in the first period. Laramie was aggressive under the basket snatching the ball from the Blue Devils and flying down the floor to knock down a jumper to keep the margin at two points late in the first period. Duke began to start a run after scoring four straight that left the first quarter in a 25-17 outcome.

In the second period, Duke took control going on a 14-0 run, shutting down GCU's offense with 18 rebounds. Junior Zelor Massaquoi ended the Lopes scoring drought with a layup to give GCU life and Laramie concluded the half with a rebound followed by a layup to leave the score at 48-24.

The Lopes bounced back throughout the third quarter as August Touchard hit an early 3-pointer and Massaquoi and Gajewski delivered back to back field goals. GCU continued to battle back, as Casey Rarrick and Laramie knocked down consecutive baskets. Laramie also achieved a double-double as the quarter ended with a 66-35 Duke advantage.

Duke continued applying pressure on both sides of the ball mounting a 11-0 run in the fourth quarter to extend its lead to 81-45. Trailing by 30, the Lopes put together a 9-0 run to improve the score to 70-45 off Laramie's six points and a Rarrick 3-pointer. GCU would go on to garner its final points off a pair of Massaquoi free throws moving the score to 83-47.

Duke gave GCU all it could handle rattling off seven more points to end the contest in a 90-47 outcome and handed the Lopes their first loss of the 2016-17 season.

Oderah Chidom led the Blue Devils with 18 points, while Rebecca Greenwell garnered a double-double with 15 points and 10 rebounds.

Lopes Quotes | Head Coach Trent May
On tonight's performance
"We were hoping to battle a little bit better than we did tonight. I think we will definitely take some positives from this game. I think the thing that was just disappointing was our interior defense was not even close to living up to what we were hoping it would be tonight. We got outmatched in a lot of ways, but we also did not do the little things, the mechanics, that we needed to do inside and gave up too many easy buckets, which caused a quick deficit midway through the second period. That was a huge difference and I don't think we were able to overcome any of that, and they kind of had their way inside all night long."

On Marina Laramie's performance
"She did a fantastic job. She's a great player. Has no fear, obviously. Plays hard on both ends of the floor. She has a lot of confidence, she has a lot of confidence shooting the basketball, and filling up the stat sheet. I thought she did a good job with that. Obviously the best one for us tonight on the boards as well. Both ends of the floor, she did a really good job."

On positive takeaways
"I think we learned going down the stretch, we're looking to make steps each time we take the floor. And I think you realize, in moments like this when it is tough, especially when you look at the scoreboard, you see a lot of adversity. I think we saw some players who really stepped up and didn't have a lot of fear, and played with some confidence. So it's always good to see who's going to rise to the top in those moments."

Lopes Notes

GCU falls to 1-1 on the season.
Marina Laramie led the Lopes in the first half with 13 points and nine rebounds. She shot 5-of-11 from the field with a trio of 3-pointers.
Laramie produced the Lopes first double-double performance of the season netting 22 points with 12 rebounds on the night. She was also perfect from the free throw line going 2-for-2.
Laramie led the squad in points, rebounds and 3-pointers.
The Lopes drained seven 3-pointers on the night.
Aniya Baker led GCU with six assists.
The Lopes shot 43.8 percent from the field in the first quarter going 7-for-16.

Up Next
GCU will conclude its road swing at Rice on Tuesday, Nov.22 as they take travel to Houston, Texas. Tip-off is set for 6 p.m. MST.