Balanced win closes out series at UVU

Saturday, February 13

Orem, UT

2 p.m.

Grand Canyon

14-4,6-2WAC

Utah Valley

7-4,5-3WAC

Team	1	2	3	4	F
Grand Canyon	10	15	30	17	72
Utah Valley	15	16	16	15	62

Photo by: Kayla Abrams

2/13/2021 7:04:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

Key rebounding, clutch shooting push Lopes past Wolverines

By: Sierra Smith

Grand Canyon women's basketball made the adjustments needed to bounce back against Utah Valley in the series' second game with a 72-62 win at UCCU Center.

"We talked yesterday about rebounding being the stat that jumped off the page," GCU head coach Molly Miller said. "I think it jumps off the box score again."

After being doubled up on boards in Friday's loss at UVU, the Lopes (14-4, 6-2 WAC) battled the Wolverines (7-4, 5-3 WAC) to a 28-28 rebounding deadlock Saturday.

GCU, now back alone in second place in the WAC, took the lead right off the bat Saturday after freshman Tiarra Brown and junior Laura Piera had back-to-back buckets in the first minute for a 4-0 lead. Brown hit the first 3-pointer of the game to bring the lead to 7-1. The Lopes had early foul trouble, helping set up a UVU 7-0 run that sent the Wolverines to a 15-10 lead after the first quarter.

"We didn't want to take our aggressiveness away, but we wanted to play contain a little bit more," Miller said. "They were going over the top and we weren't rotating very well on our traps, so we kind of had ball pressure with a contain mentality."

The Wolverines kept the lead throughout the second quarter and went into halftime ahead by six. Moving into the second half, the Lopes' biggest key was to cut down UVU's rebounds.

"They had 19 (rebounds) at half, so that was the halftime talk," Miller said. "Kennedi (Shorts) came in and grabbed nine rebounds herself. Everyone was blocking out. They didn't get the second-chance opportunities late that they got yesterday."

Through the first half, GCU had more looks than UVU with 28 field goal attempts, but only eight fell compared to the Wolverine's 9-for-22 performance from the field.

"Even going into halftime, we knew that we weren't hitting shots and that's going to be a story for us sometimes," Miller said. "But we had 'the-next-one-is-going-to-fall' type mentality, and it did. We finally hit shots in the third quarter."

The Lopes came into the second half with passion and grit that translated into a 30-point third quarter. Nine of Tiarra Brown's 16 points came in the third quarter.

Joining Brown in double-digit scoring was Piera, senior guard Ny'Dajah Jackson and freshman center Katie Scott with 12 points each.

"I liked the balance today," Miller said. "We had four score in double figures and that's a team that's a threat at all spots. When they're focusing on a player like Katie, LP can hit a shot, Nana can hit a shot. Our other freshman, Tiarra Brown, was really good and consistent for these past two games." .

Brown posted 11 points Friday and 16 points Saturday, when she added three rebounds.

"She's starting to come into her own," Miller said of Brown. "She's a tough matchup. She can hit the 3. She can also drive. She can post up. She's an offensive rebound machine. She's got a lot of athleticism. So it's nice to see that balance on the box score.

Clutch three-pointers from Piera and Scott in the final quarter set the Lopes up take home the win as the pair combined for 13 points while shooting 3-4 from three-point range.

"At the end, we had huge plays. They'd answer. We wouldn't get frazzled. We dug deep and we competed at the end. I wanted to see this team compete and they competed at the end of the game."

Up next, the Lopes travel to Riverside, California, to face undefeated WAC leader California Baptist (18-0, 10-0 WAC).