Miller brings new GCU look into opener

Friday, Nov. 27 \| 2 p.m. (Phoenix time) \| GCU Arena

	WEBER STATE WILDCATS (0-0)	at	GRAND CANYON LOPES (0-0)

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Before Grand Canyon women's basketball can be a work of art, it will need to be a work in progress.

With head coach Molly Miller leading her first Lopes game at GCU Arena on Friday, the 2 p.m. tip-off against Weber State also marks the first game for Lopes players in a drastically different system.

Miller became a two-time Division II Coach of the Year and the career winning percentage leader among all men's and women's NCAA basketball coaches at .914 for a style with pressure defense and uptempo offense. The Lopes will get there, but speed bumps and turns lie ahead on the road to Miller's intended destination for the program.

"It's been a long time coming to get to this point with a lot of curveballs thrown at you," said Miller, who became GCU's head coach in April. "I've always said that the team that's most resilient to some of that, just takes it and rolls with it and has this mantra that's 'perfect for us' is going to come out on top.

"We've done a good job of rolling with the punches here and there. It's an odd year for everyone so we have to embrace the weirdness. It's been about 263 days since the Lopes last tipped it off, but who's counting? I think they're anxious as well."

Laura Piera

GCU returns six players from that 15-12 squad but everyone is a bit of a newcomer in a fresh system. It is predicated on an aggressive defense that presses and denies passing lanes, instead of last season's WAC second-place team that packed the paint.

"I like pressure and I like defense so I really enjoy it," GCU junior point guard Laura Piera said. "We have to get better in some aspects but we're getting there and I'm having so much more fun."

The Lopes lost their top two scorers and two rebounders but get an extra returnee in sophomore guard Taylor Caldwell, who started as a freshman but missed last season following knee surgery.

Miller brought in immediate help in graduate transfer Ny'Dajah Jackson, a guard from Youngstown State, and impact freshmen Tiarra Brown on the wing and Katie Scott in the post.

"If we work together and stick to what we do, we'll get it done," Jackson said. "It's exciting. It's my last year so I want to go out with a bang. It's my first game to make an impression on the GCU program."

Because of COVID-19 precautions, the Lopes did not get a scrimmage or an exhibition game to prepare for opening the season against Weber State, which returns four starters from last season and brings back two more 2018-19 starters who missed last season.

For GCU, Brown has starred during preseason as a new player with aggressive defense and double-digit scoring ability but she has been limited by injury. Scott, another freshman, is a 6-foot-2 player who is being entrusted with post-ups, ball-handling and 3-pointers as she transitions against facing collegiate size and athleticism.

"That concept of having the ball in her hands is not foreign to her," Miller said. "She's comfortable. We're putting her in position where we say we need you to score the basketball for us in a variety of ways."

There will be an expanded role for junior forward Kennedi Shorts, as fellow returners Carla Balague, Tianna Brown, Tavia Rowell and Venla Varis all figure into a rotation that will send Lopes players in and out to maintain frenetic pressure.

"We're challenging our kids to see this window of opportunity and bust through it," Miller said. "We have to be aggressive and assertive."

Friday, Nov. 27 | 2 p.m. (Phoenix time) | GCU Arena

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Players Mentioned

Carla Balague

Tianna Brown

Tiarra Brown

Taylor Caldwell

Ny'Dajah Jackson

Laura Piera

Tavia Rowell

Katie Scott

Kennedi Shorts

Venla Varis

Grand Canyon University Athletics