Senior pair pushes Lopes past Wolverines

Saturday, January 27

Phoenix, Ariz.

2 P.M.

Grand Canyon

10-10, 4-2

Utah Valley

9-12, 3-3

Utah Valley

Grand Canyon

1/27/2018 4:01:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

GCU tallies season-best team assists

By: Sarah Woodward

PHOENIX, Ariz. – The senior pair of Brie Mobley and Jessica Gajewski combined for 47 points to lead the Grand Canyon women's basketball team past Utah Valley (9-12, 3-3 WAC), 81-61, on Saturday afternoon at the GCU Arena. The Lopes (10-10, 4-2 WAC) tallied a season-best 24 assists in their 10th victory of the season and fourth in Western Athletic Conference play.

"It's something that we've worked on all week, moving the ball quickly – it really carried over in today's game," head coach Nicole Powell said. "I'm really happy to see that with this kind of assist numbers and sharing the ball. That's our goal and I hope we can continue that trend moving forward."

"I'm really proud of our team's effort for most of the game today," Powell said. "I thought we had a letdown in the second half and we've got a lot of things that we need to continue to work on.

"We shot the ball terrifically today, especially Jess (Gajewski) going 7-13 from three is just stellar," Powell said. "That really gave us a great cushion – when you shoot the ball well, the game goes a little bit easier."

Gajewski tallied 21 points on the day, all of them coming behind the arc from seven three-point baskets for a season-best total. Gajewski also added four assists and a rebound.

"I also thought Brie (Mobley) was terrific, shooting that kind of field-goal percentage. Not surprising, she's a star, but I'm proud of how well we shot the ball."

Mobley led the Lopes in scoring with her sixth 20+ point game on the year, as the guard tallied a game-high 26 points, 15 in the third quarter, from 10-13 field goals, 3-4 three-point field goals and 3-4 free throws. Mobley also added five boards and five assists to her game resume.

The pair of senior August Touchard and freshman Camille Hailey were the other two Lopes in double-digits, each with 10 points apiece. Touchard led GCU with a season-high nine assists, while Hailey added four assists and four rebounds.

Hailey was the only player in double-digits heading to the locker room at halftime with 10, while junior ShaRon Miller lead in rebounding at the break with four. Miller led the Lopes in rebounding with eight on the game, while adding seven points.

GCU held Utah Valley to just 22 points in the first half while owning a 15-point, 37-22 lead at the break thanks to 53.8 percent conversion beyond the arc in the first 20 minutes of play.

The Lopes outscored the Wolverines 23-17 in the third quarter, with all but eight points coming from Mobley, to maintain a 21-point, 60-39 lead heading to the final quarter of play.
UVU battled back to outscore the Lopes by one in the fourth quarter, 22-21, but GCU hung on for the dominant conference 20-point victory.

The Lopes hit the road for a two-game trip starting Thursday, Feb. 1 at Kansas City. GCU closes the trip at Chicago State on Saturday, Feb. 3.