Lopes fall to Rice in physical contest

Tuesday, November 22

Houston, TX

6:00 P.M.

Grand Canyon

1-2

Rice

3-1

Grand Canyon

RICE

11/22/2016 9:15:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

By: Imani Suber

HOUSTON -- The Grand Canyon women's basketball team fell to Rice 64-50 in a physical contest Tuesday night. While the Lopes claimed 21 rebounds in the first quarter, with 10 offensive boards, they weren't able to convert the opportunities into points and struggled to get in a rhythm throughout the course of the contest.

Marina Laramie led the squad with 15 points for the second straight contest, while Zelor Massaquoi had a team-leading eight rebounds.

How it Happened
Rice got out to an early lead after shooting a 3-pointer to grab the advantage. The Owls went on an early 10-0 run despite GCU grabbing six offensive rebounds with seven total through six minutes of play. Aniya Baker earned GCU's first points of the night off a pair of free-throws. Casey Rarrick knocked down a three to move the Lopes total to five. GCU wasn't short on opportunities after securing seven offensive rebounds in the first quarter, but couldn't connect leaving the score at 17-5.

To start off the second the Lopes got their offense going, shooting 46.2 percent from the field their best mark of the night. Jessica Gajewski and Laura Marcos-Canedo hit back to back threes to cut the Rice lead to 21-11. The Lopes continued to connect on offense and engineered a 10-4 run to close the gap to 26-20 going into the half.

In the second half, the Lopes came out aggressive as Gajewski nailed a 3-pointer to get GCU within three. The Owls quickly answered, rattling off six points from three consecutive lay ups to extend their lead back to 11.

Although Laramie knocked down a 3-pointer at the buzzer to end the third leaving the Lopes within 10, GCU couldn't mount a rally in the final quarter. The Lopes remained relentless and tried to overcome the adversity, but were thwarted at every turn by an aggressive Rice defense that grabbed eight defensive rebounds for a total of 10 in the fourth. In the remaining minutes, the Owls continued to collect points off of GCU turnovers which led to the final outcome of 64-50.

Lopes Quotes
Head Coach Trent May

"We had a lot of adversity tonight right from the get go. We tried to make runs, but we kept coming up short. It starts with little things and ends with little things. Consistency was lacking tonight and the end result was a tough road loss."

Lopes Notes

GCU pulled down 21 rebounds in the first quarter alone. 10 offensive, 11 defensive.
Laramie led the Lopes for the second consecutive game with 15 points before fouling out late in the fourth quarter.
Massaquoi had a team-leading eight rebounds.
GCU netted a team high 31 rebounds on the young season.
The Lopes shot 47.2% from the field in the second quarter, their best total of the night.

Up Next
GCU will return home to host the GCU Thanksgiving Classic on Nov. 25-26 as they welcome Denver, Idaho and Illinois-Chicago to GCU Arena. The Lopes will play Denver on Friday, Nov. 25 at noon. GCU will conclude its homestand on Saturday Nov. 26 against Idaho. Tip-off is set for 2 p.m. MST.