Daniel double-double leads Lopes

Saturday, February 16

Phoenix, Ariz.

2 p.m.

Grand Canyon

Chicago State

Chicago St.

Grand Canyon

2/16/2019 5:08:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

Cephas adds game-high 23 points

By: Sarah Woodward

The Grand Canyon women's basketball team had a strong offensive showing at home on Saturday, as the Lopes tallied their fourth conference win with an 84-49 defeat of Chicago State at GCU Arena.

Junior forward Da'jah Daniel recorded her third double-double of the season with 16 points and 12 rebounds while redshirt senior AJ Cephas led all players with 23 points. Taylor Caldwell had a game-high seven assists and added seven rebounds while Cephas and freshman Carla Balague each collected six boards.

GCU (6-16, 4-8 WAC) had a stellar game offensively as GCU shot 50 percent (33-66) from the field. The Lopes also collected a season-high 48 rebounds while the Cougars (1-23, 1-10 WAC) only tallied 23.

Senior Kavita Akula started the Lopes off with a three pointer, but Chicago State tied the game with a three-pointer of their own. The Cougars couldn't hold off GCU's offensive efforts, as Balague drained two jumpers in the last minute to put the Lopes up by five at the end of the first.

Chicago State didn't score until the sixth minute of the second quarter, while Cephas put GCU ahead with six points. Balague closed out the first half of play with a layup that widened the gap by 13, 36-24.

The Lopes took off in the third quarter with a 10-0 run after the Cougars committed three consecutive turnovers. Freshman Venla Varis came off the bench to tally two back-to-back three-pointers to extend the lead by 26.

Redshirt freshman Taylor Howard stepped in for GCU and recorded her own three-pointer, making the score 57-31. Daniel topped off the quarter with a pair of layups to nearly double CSU's score, 65-39.

Cephas continued her strong showing at the net with three-straight layups in the opening minutes of the fourth quarter to widen the gap further. Varis contributed two more shots from beyond arch to bring her total to 12 points for the game. A pair of field goals from Balague and one from Daniel sealed the deal for the Lopes for the home victory.

GCU hits the road to California next to take on California Baptist on Thursday.