WAC play begins at Chicago State

Thursday, December 30

Chicago, Ill.

5 p.m. (Phoenix Time)

Grand Canyon

Chicago State

12/29/2021 10:25:00 AM | Women's Basketball

Lopes head to Chicago for season's 1st conference game

By: Sierra Smith

Thursday, Dec. 30 \| 5 p.m. (Phoenix time) \| Chicago, Ill.

	CHICAGO STATE COUGARS (1-8)	vs.	GRAND CANYON LOPES (7-4)

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The Grand Canyon women's basketball team opens WAC play at Chicago State on Thursday night at 5 p.m. (Phoenix time).

THREE THINGS TO KNOW

TOP-25 STATS: The Lopes rank No. 2 nationally for steals per game (14.6), No. 3 for total steals (161), No. 7 for turnovers forced per game (24.64) and No. 8 for turnover margin per game (plus-7.73).
EVANS EARNS WAC HONOR: GCU freshman guard Naudia Evans earned her first career weekly award as she was named WAC Freshman of the Week. It is also the first conference honor for any Lope this season.
ROAD TO WAC VEGAS BEGINS: Conference play begins Thursday with the Lopes playing at Chicago State. GCU is 13-1 against Chicago State with the lone loss coming at Jones Convention Center on Jan. 17, 2019.

SCOUTING UC IRVINE

The Cougars (1-8) earned their lone win of the season against Wisconsin with a 71-63 victory in overtime. It is the Cougars' first win against a Big Ten opponent since 2008, when they beat Northwestern.
Chicago State is led by freshman Aaliyah Collins, who is averaging 15.8 points, 5.0 rebounds, 3.4 steals (leads the WAC) and 2.7 assists.
Collins has been named the WAC Freshman of the Week three times this season.
CSU's Kyjai Miles leads the Cougars with 5.6 rebounds per game.
Head coach Tiffany Sardin was named Chicago State's head coach on May 15, 2020.

LAST TIME OUT

GCU vs. UC Irvine

The Lopes closed out the nonconference slate with a win over UC Irvine 58-53 at GCU Arena, moving the Lopes' home record to 6-0.
GCU (7-4) had two players score in double figures, led by graduate guard Amara Graham, who had 15 points and four rebounds and junior guard Taylor Caldwell posted 11 points, six rebounds, four assists and four steals.
The Lopes outrebounded UC Irvine 40-35 in Thursday's game, led by seven boards from graduate forward Jay McChristine. The Lopes collected 13 offensive rebounds and scored 15 second-chance points.
The Lopes held the Anteaters to only 31.5% shooting, including 24% from behind the 3-point arc.
The first quarter started slowly with the first bucket being made three minutes into the game, when McChristine got the scoring going. The Lopes then went on a 5-0 run with 6:17 left in the first. UC Irvine battled back to take the lead and entered the second quarter ahead 10-8.
UC Irvine added to that lead, building a 12-8 advantage before GCU went on a 6-0 run, highlighted by a bucket from Graham, to take a 14-12 lead. The Lopes kept that lead for the remainder of the quarter and had a 24-22 advantage heading into halftime. GCU forced seven UC Irvine turnovers in the period and turned them into five points.
GCU started the second half with an 8-0 run, expanding its lead to 32-22 with 6:12 to go in the third. The Lopes held on for the rest of the quarter and entered the fourth quarter with a 44-34 lead. Twelve of GCU's 20 third-quarter points were scored in the paint.
The Anteaters' strong fourth-quarter showing beyond the arc brought them within two points, but the Lopes' clutch free-throw shooting kept them ahead. GCU never trailed in the second half on its way to victory.