Lopes clip Redhawks, secure fifth-straight win

Saturday, January 6

Phoenix, Ariz.

2 P.M.

Grand Canyon

7-8, 1-0

Seattle U

6-10, 0-1

Seattle University

Grand Canyon

1/6/2018 4:13:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

Mobley goes off for 30 points to lead GCU

By: Sarah Woodward

PHOENIX, Ariz. – One shy of a career-best scoring total, senior Brie Mobley tallied a stunning 30 points to lead the Grand Canyon women's basketball team to its fifth-straight and Western Athletic Conference opening win, as the Lopes (7-8, 1-0 WAC) downed Seattle U (6-10, 0-1 WAC), 74-63, on Saturday afternoon at the GCU Arena.

"I'm really proud of how our team battled tonight," head coach Nicole Powell said of her first-career WAC victory. "Beginning conference play, Seattle is a very good team. A coach is never happy, and we've still got some things we've got to work on and do better, but this was a great start to conference play.

"We've got some tough opponents coming up, especially on the road. It's going to be a challenge for us because those are both tough places to play, but we're going to focus on how we can get better right now."

Mobley finished the game shooting 12-21 from the field with two rebounds and an assist in 28 minutes of work on the hardwood. The guard surpassed her previous season-best of 27 points from the GCU victory at Florida Atlantic earlier this season.

Fellow senior guard Jessica Gajewski had a strong performance as well with 15 points, three boards and three assists on the game. Mobley and Gajewski were GCU's only players in double-digits.

Junior Kavita Akula contributed seven points from a 3-pointer and a four-point play, while sophomore Vanesa Murphy had six.

The pair of senior August Touchard and freshman Camille Hailey had five points apiece, while freshman Myra Williams added four and junior ShaRon Williams had two. Williams led the Lopes in rebounding efforts with six on the game. Williams and Murphy had five apiece.

Touchard had a team-high eight assists as well.

The Lopes started the contest off on the right foot by taking an early 11-2 lead. The Redhawks quickly caught up to tie the game at 12, while the pair met at 17 to end the first quarter.

Hot shooting from beyond the arc put the Lopes up by as many as 14 points at the half, as a 63.6 percent 3-point conversion gave GCU a 37-23 lead at the break.

Seattle went on a 17-6 run to come as close as three points (43-40) to the Lopes, but GCU remained strong behind 12 points from Mobley in the third quarter to head to the final 10 minutes on top, 55-42.

Grand Canyon kept its momentum up and maintained a double-digit lead for the remaining four minutes of the game to come out on top, 74-63.

The Lopes take to the road to continue WAC play on Thursday, Jan. 11 at 7 p.m. (MT) at New Mexico State. GCU will then travel to Edinburg, Texas, to face UTRGV at 6 p.m. (MT) on Saturday.