Lopes fall in final road game

Saturday, March 2

Bakersfield, Calif.

2 p.m.

Grand Canyon

6-18

CSU Bakersfield

12-15

Grand Canyon

CSU Bakersfield

3/2/2019 4:43:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

By: Ally Schellhase

BAKERSFIELD, Calif. – The Grand Canyon women's basketball team wrapped up its final road game of the season with a loss to CSU Bakersfield, 51-37 on Saturday afternoon.

Freshman guard Laura Piera racked up 12 points, contributing to a third of the Lopes' total score. Senior forward AJ Cephas had seven points of her own and led GCU with seven rebounds. Following Cephas was freshman guard Venla Varis who tallied five points.

The first quarter started off slow with both teams only scoring a combined 15 points. The momentum picked up for the Lopes towards the end of the second quarter when senior guard Kavita Akula got her first points of the game by sinking a shot behind the arc.

GCU (6-18, 4-10 WAC) picked it up in the second half with a pair of three-pointers by Piera. The Roadrunners (12-15, 8-6) answered back with a couple of three-point shots to remain in the lead.

Junior forward Da'jah Daniel stepped in for the Lopes with two layups early in the fourth quarter. Cephas gathered four points for GCU with a layup and three free-throws, but the Roadrunners lead was too wide to narrow. Daniel managed to score three points with a layup and a free-throw at the end of the quarter, but her efforts came up short.

The Lopes return to GCU Arena on March 7 to take on Utah Valley for their first of two final games of the regular season.