Lopes fall in road matchup

Saturday, January 19

Kansas City, Mo.

1 p.m.

Grand Canyon

4-12, 2-4

Kansas City

9-8, 3-1

Grand Canyon

UMKC

Photo by: David Kadlubowski

1/19/2019 3:15:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

Cephas leads GCU in loss at Kansas City

By: Cassidy Mace

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Grand Canyon women's basketball (4-11, 2-3 WAC) finished a two-game road trip Saturday at Kansas City (9-8, 3-1 WAC) with a 73-45 loss.

Two Lopes scored in the double digits with senior power forward AJ Cephas leading the team with 12 points and junior power forward Da'jah Daniels scoring a season-high 11 points. The Lopes struggled offensively, recording their lowest-scoring game of the season and shooting 32 percent from the field.

Cephas was a contributor for the Lopes throughout the game, scoring points in every quarter as well as recording teams highs for rebounds (five) and blocked shots (two) while adding two steals. Daniel's scoring was accompanied by three rebounds as she went 4 for 5 from the field and 3 for 4 from the free throw line. Freshman guards Taylor Caldwell and Laura Piera also contributed for the Lopes, leading the team with five assists and five steals, respectively.

Senior center ShaRon Miller got the Lopes started with their first four points of the game, putting GCU ahead 4-2 in the first two minutes. The Roos retaliated, going on an 11-1 run in the next five minutes of the quarter. Caldwell put up another jumper for the Lopes, but four made free throws for Kansas City put the Roos ahead 17-7 at the end of the first quarter.

Cephas and Daniel started the Lopes off strong in the second quarter. Cephas got a block, followed closely by a steal to set the offense up for Daniel's first points of the game. Daniel scored again in the next possession to cut UMKC's lead to nine. The Roos came back with a 7-0 run and the Lopes were unable to recover, trailing 35-15 at halftime.

The Lopes came out strong after halftime, going on a 6-0 run to start the third quarter. Senior guard Kavita Akula scored her first points of the game with a fastbreak assist from Piera, cutting the Roos lead to 14. However, a 14-1 run from Kansas City gave the Roos their largest lead of the game, 54-26, with 1:47 reamining in the third quarter.

Daniel continued to contribute for the Lopes in the final quarter, scoring GCU's first five points before fouling out with 6:52 left to play. The Lopes suffered a five-minute scoring drought from the field, which was broken by Piera making the team's first 3-pointer. Cephas closed the game with two jumpers from the paint, but was unable to dent the Roos' lead.

The Lopes return home to face California Baptist at 2 p.m. next Saturday for Faith and Family Night in GCU Arena.