Lopes head north for in-state battle

Thursday, December 9

Flagstaff, Ariz.

6 p.m.

Grand Canyon

Northern Arizona

12/7/2021 11:20:00 AM | Women's Basketball

GCU continues road stretch at Northern Arizona

By: Sierra Smith

Thursday, Dec. 9 \| 6 p.m. \| Flagstaff, Ariz.

	NORTHERN ARIZONA LUMBERJACKS (3-3)	vs.	GRAND CANYON LOPES (5-2)

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The Grand Canyon women's basketball team continues its road slate a few hours to the north with a Thursday matchup at Northern Arizona.

NATION-LEADING DEFENSE: The Lopes rank No. 1 nationally for turnovers forced per game (28) and steals per game (17.7).
TESTED ON THE ROAD: GCU is in the second week of a three-week road stretch, trying to earn its first win away from GCU Arena. The Lopes are 5-0 at home and 0-2 on the road.
TRANSFERS MAKE IMPACT: The Lopes' top three scorers are graduate transfer Jay McChristine (10.9), junior transfer Dominique Phillips (10.4) and graduate transfer Amara Graham (9.4).

The Lumberjacks (3-3) are coming off two conference wins against Weber State (83-79) and Idaho State (81-74 in overtime).
GCU has a four-game winning streak against NAU, dating back to Dec. 3, 1993. Last season, the Lopes defeated the Lumberjacks 66-58 at home.
NAU's scoring is led by preseason Big Sky All-Conference selection Khiarica Rasheed, who is averaging 14.5 points per game. She also leads the team with 7 rebounds per game.
Head coach Loree Payne is in her fifth season at NAU.

GCU vs. Cal State Fullerton

The Lopes led 32-22 at halftime, but could not pull away in the second half and fell 60-53 at Cal State Fullerton on Saturday.
GCU's scoring was led by Graham, who had 13 points and four assists. GCU junior guard Taylor Caldwell posted 11 points and three steals while McChristine added eight points, seven rebounds and two steals.
McChristine pulled down two offensive rebounds to lead an offense that racked up second-chance opportunities for GCU, grabbing 13 offensive boards and turning them into 10 second-chance points.
The Lopes forced 18 Titan turnovers while committing 17. GCU turned those takeaways into 16 points. Caldwell's three steals led her team.
With a game-low 10 points in the third quarter, the Lopes trailed 46-42 entering the fourth.
Cal State Fullerton kept widening its lead in the fourth, constructing a 56-46 advantage before GCU went on a 5-0 run, finished off by Phillips' 3-pointer that cut the deficit to 56-51 with 1:27 to go. The Titans outscored the Lopes the rest of the way to win 60-53.