Senior trio gives GCU dominant victory at NAU

Thursday, December 14

Flagstaff, Ariz.

12 P.M.

Grand Canyon

3-8

NAU

3-6

Grand Canyon

Northern Arizona

12/14/2017 2:00:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

Touchard leads with season-high 21 points

By: Sarah Woodward

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. – Behind standout performances from the senior trio of August Touchard, Jordan Jackson and Brie Mobley, the Grand Canyon women's basketball team grabbed its third win of the year and second away from the GCU Arena. The Lopes defeated in-state rival Northern Arizona (3-6, 0-0 Big Sky), 72-54, on Thursday afternoon at the Rolle Activity Center. GCU (3-8, 0-0 WAC) closes out its 2017 road slate with a victory.

"I think we made some strides today as a team in our mental toughness," head coach Nicole Powell said.

"This is a tough place to play. The elevation really affects the players and I thought collectively we hung in there when it was tough to catch our breath. We had some strong individual performances and I think the biggest thing was that we finally seemed to be better on defense.

"We still have a lot to work on. There's still much more we can improve on. We're excited to get back to Phoenix and get back to work. It was a great crowd today with all of these kiddos, but now it's time to get back and get ready for the next couple of games."

For the first time this season, Touchard led the Lopes in scoring, as the guard tallied a season-best 21 points from 5-of-9 three-pointers and 6-of-7 free throws. Touchard also contributed five rebounds and three assists on the game.

Jackson was right behind with 17 points of her own from 7-of-13 FG and 3-of-5 3-pointers. The performance marks the third-straight in double-digits for Jackson.

With her third double-double of the season, Mobley netted 14 points and a team-best 10 boards. Mobley has scored in double digits in eight outings this year.

The Lopes shot 83.3 percent beyond the arc in the first quarter and closed out the opening 10 minutes with back-to-back 3-pointers from senior Jessica Gajewski and sophomore Vanessa Murphy to lead,27-20. Touchard was 3-3 from the three-point line in the first as well.

Gajewski finished today's game with nine points, while Murphy had three.

Freshman Myra Williams added seven boads on the game to help the Lopes defense.

GCU headed to the locker room with an 11-point, 39-28, lead. The Lopes outshot NAU in the first half - 44 percent (14-32) by the Lopes and 36 percent (10-28) from the Lumberjacks. Freshman Camille Hailey 4-4 from the free-throw in the first half.

The Lopes returned from the locker room to secure a lead as large as 22 points before the Lumberjacks went on a few short runs to cut it to as small as 11. GCU maintained a double-digit lead for the entire second half to come out on top by 18, 72-54.

The Lopes return home for a pair of games to close out the 2017 portion of the schedule. GCU will host Southern Utah on Monday, Dec. 18 and Santa Clara on Thursday, Dec. 21. Both games are set to tip off at 2 p.m. (MT).