Shooting catches up to GCU defense for win

Monday, February 1

Phoenix, Ariz.

6 p.m.

Grand Canyon

11-3, 3-1WAC

Tarleton

4-11, 0-5WAC

Tarleton St.

Grand Canyon

2/1/2021 9:52:00 PM | Women's Basketball, Paul Coro

Box Score Photo Gallery

Tiarra Brown's 19 points, Tarleton's 26 turnovers fuel WAC victory

By: Paul Coro

There are not many teams in the nation that could be shooting 26% from the field early in the third quarter and still hold a lead.

It takes one like Grand Canyon women's basketball, whose defense is the patient partner to its offense. When the Lopes can't find their shot, their defense just keeps coming up with turnovers and stops until they do for wins like Monday night's 64-55 home victory against Tarleton.

GCU (10-3, 2-1 WAC) made 70% of its shots over the final 18 minutes in a 42-point second half that staved off the scrappy Texans (4-11, 0-5 WAC).

Lopes head coach Molly Miller admittedly said, "Ewwww," when looking at the halftime box score with a 22-21 lead, but GCU survived on its nation-leading defense for turnovers forced. Tarleton made 26 turnovers in the game, limiting its chances but giving the Lopes offense an opportunity to roll in the second half with a more aggressive approach.

"We did a lot better job of putting them on their heels early in transition," Miller said. "That was something that was helpful to get our momentum going and to get our pace going."

The Lopes kept command but did not put the Texans away until a late 6-0 run that began with junior point guard Laura Piera slashing for a drive and then stealing the ensuing inbound.

Most of GCU junior forward Kennedi Shorts' impact did not show in the box score, but it did when she finished the run by making an overhead reverse and a banked jumper on successive trips for a 61-50 lead with 2:15 to go. The Lopes outscored the Texans by 12 in Shorts' 14 minutes of play.

"I thought Kennedi Shorts came in and gave us a huge momentum burst off the bench, especially defensively," Miller said. "She was flying around everywhere, getting rebounds, doing a good job on her space cuts."

The Lopes offense also stemmed its rough spots with the consistent effort of freshman guard Tiarra Brown, whose foul trouble was the only thing stopping her from a new season high.

Brown came within a point of her scoring best with a 19-point, eight-rebound game. She made 9 of 13 shots and added three steals in her third career start, a role delayed by an early-season hamstring injury.

"I constantly challenge Tiarra," Miller said. "The nice thing is she lets me coach her up. I'll push that kid because I see a freshman that we can get a lot out of. It's not typical for a freshman to have this much confidence and contribution.

"I want to push her and get the most out of her because I see the sky's the limit for her and she's got a huge ceiling. I don't want to wait a couple years to see that when a typical junior really emerges well and comes into her own. I think Tiarra can do that as a freshman."

The Lopes responded to a loss with a win for the third straight time this season. On Friday, they rallied against a 13-1 Idaho State but fell short 62-54.

"Every time it comes down to a loss, we're determined to be better the next game," Brown said. "We always work our way up, knowing what our mistakes were from the last game. We take it on ourselves and not what the refs did or what the other team was doing. We take it upon ourselves that it was our loss and what we did wrong and we fix it."

That chance to tweak comes again Tuesday, when this year's WAC schedule scenario pits the same teams against each other at GCU Arena again at 6 p.m.

Like most teams, Tarleton was not prepared for the level of pressure and intensity that GCU employs defensively. The Lopes average a nation-high 26.6 turnovers per game, with sophomore guard Taylor Caldwell keeping her WAC-leading 3.7 steals per game average with four more Monday night. She ranks fifth nationally.

"It's all about our press," Brown said. "On our press, we just have to do that trap and it's over every time we do it."

That relentless defense is setting up decisive fourth quarter for the Lopes, who have outscored opponents by an average of 21-12 in their past three games.

Offseason devotion built the conditioning to execute the style. That is coming into play during this GCU stretch of five games in 10 days, ending with this weekend's conference visit from UT Rio Grande Valley.

"This team's best basketball, I truly believe, is ahead," Miller said. "We need to continue to work on things that get us in rhythm and make us better on both end of the floor."