Lopes fight for chance at 1st in WAC

Friday, February 19

Riverside, CA

3 p.m. MST

Grand Canyon

California Baptist

Photo by: Elizabeth Tinajero

2/18/2021 2:30:00 PM | Women's Basketball

GCU faces undefeated California Baptist for 2 road games

By: Sierra Smith

Friday-Saturday, Feb. 19-20 \| 3 p.m. MST \| CBU Events Center

	CALIFORNIA BAPTIST LANCERS (18-0, 10-0 WAC)	vs.	GRAND CANYON LOPES (14-4, 6-2 WAC)

WATCH: WAC Digital Network \| STATS: View

The Grand Canyon women's basketball travels to Riverside, California, to take on undefeated California Baptist (18-0, 10-0 WAC). The Lopes sit in second place in the WAC with a 6-2 record.

THREE THINGS TO KNOW

National leaders: The Lopes rank No. 1 in the nation for opponent turnovers per game (25.3), turnover margin per game (plus-10), steals per game (14.6) and total steals (262). Freshman center Katie Scott's 55.4% shooting from the field sits at No. 21 nationally. Junior point guard Laura Piera comes in at No. 7 in steals (55) and No. 17 in steals per game (3.1) while sophomore guard Taylor Caldwell follows closely at No. 9 for steals (53) and No. 20 for steals per game (3.0).
Top two-stat matchup: CBU and GCU hold the top two spots in multiple stat categories in the WAC, including points per game, scoring margin, field goal percentage and turnover margin.
Race for No. 1: GCU trails CBU by two games in the loss column but this weekend's two-game series could impact the standings and WAC Tournament seeding with only three weekends remaining in the regular season.

SCOUTING

California Baptist is the only undefeated team in the nation besides Bucknell (8-0).
CBU sits atop the WAC with a 10-0 conference record and is 18-0 overall.
The Lancers have claimed a conference-best five WAC Player of the Week honors this season.
Senior Ane Olaeta, the WAC Preseason Player of the Year, earned her first Player of the Week honor of the season after averaging a double-double against UT Rio Grande Valley.
Four Lancers are averaging double-digit points this season, including Caitlyn Harper (14.3), Britney Thomas (12.7), Olaeta (11.8) and Nicole Avila-Ambrosi (10.9).

LAST TIME OUT

GCU split at Utah Valley with a 63-51 loss in Game 1 and a 72-62 win in Game 2.

Game 1

Sophomore Tavia Rowell was 3 for 5 from the 3-point line and led the Lopes' scoring with 12 points.
Junior Laura Piera matched her career high with six steals and added a season-high nine assists with four rebounds.
Freshman Tiarra Brown also scored double-digit points with 11 on a 5-for-12 day from the field.

Game 2

Four Lopes posted double-digit scoring in the win, led by Tiarra Brown's 16 points. Ny'Dajah Jackson, Katie Scott and Laura Piera had 12 points each.
Taylor Caldwell matched a career high with seven assists.
Kennedi Shorts led the rebounding with nine boards.