Lopes drop 1st WAC road game at UVU

Friday, February 12

Orem, UT

2 p.m.

Grand Canyon

13-4,5-2WAC

Utah Valley

7-3,5-2WAC

Team	1	2	3	4	F
Grand Canyon	7	15	14	15	51
Utah Valley	13	15	12	23	63

Photo by: Jay Drowns / UVU Marketing

2/12/2021 6:53:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score Photo Gallery

Rowell scores 12, Piera matches career-high 6 steals in loss

By: Sierra Smith

OREM, Utah — The Grand Canyon women's basketball dropped the first game of the series at preseason WAC favorite Utah Valley 63-51 on Friday. The Lopes and Wolverines are now tied for second place in the WAC at 5-2 in conference play.

Utah Valley, the WAC rebounding leader, capitalized on both the offensive and defensive end as they doubled the Lopes' rebounds.

"I don't think you can allow a team 42 rebounds to your 21 and win a lot of games," GCU head coach Molly Miller said. "I know that, with our style of defense, a lot of those turnovers take away rebounding opportunities, but that's just too many on the board. That effort has got to be better if we're going to turn around and have a shot at rebound redemption tomorrow."

UVU's Maria Carvalho posted a career-high 23 points and reigning WAC Player of the Week Josie Williams added a 14-point, 12-rebound effort.

"They were voted the preseason WAC favorite for a reason," Miller said. "They're a very good team and they're a very veteran team. We still have kind of the lack of experience, especially with this being our first true conference test on the road to handle the scenario."

The Wolverines (7-3, 5-2 WAC) got a jump start on the Lopes (13-4, 5-2 WAC) and kept a steady lead until the Lopes began to rally. GCU went on an 8-0 run to reduce its deficit to six points at halftime. The rally continued into the third quarter and junior Tiarra Brown eventually tied it up at the 7:31 mark. GCU continued to fight and tied the game four more times until a 6-0 UVU run at the end of the fourth quarter put the Lopes out of reach.

"It's really imperative that we refocus and regroup and make some adjustments and then obviously we have to do some things a little bit differently, especially from the get-go," Miller said. "We can't dig ourselves a hole early on the road."

GCU's scoring was led by sophomore Tavia Rowell, who came off the bench to put up 12 points on a 3-for-5 performance from the 3-point line. Freshman Tiarra Brown also scored double-digit points with 11 on a 5-for-12 day from the field.

Lopes junior point guard Laura Piera matched her career high with six steals and also dished out a season-high nine assists with four rebounds.

GCU looks to bounce back Saturday at 2 p.m. to even the series and take hold of the second-place spot.

"We've got to have one through five on the court just playing their tails off," Miller said. "Getting on the same page is a big thing defensively and then just trying to find a little more in-rhythm shots offensively also."