Jackson leads Senior Night win

Saturday, February 27

Phoenix, Ariz.

6 p.m.

Grand Canyon

16-6,8-4WAC

Seattle University

11-11,6-6WAC

Team	1	2	3	4	F
Seattle U	13	16	18	17	64
Grand Canyon	20	17	23	20	80

Photo by: Elizabeth Tinajero

2/27/2021 10:22:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score Photo Gallery Photo Gallery 2

Senior guard posts 19 points, 8 rebounds, 3 steals to sweep Seattle U

By: Sierra Smith

In the final home game of the season, the Grand Canyon women's basketball team celebrated its seniors by completing a series sweep of Seattle U with an 80-64 victory against the Redhawks on Saturday at GCU Arena.

Before the televised game, the Lopes honored senior players Ny'Dajah Jackson and Chloe Akin-Otiko, as well as senior managers Cole Yearout, Aliana Garcia and Dan Laskowski.

There were many contributors to Saturday night's win, but it was fittingly a big night for Jackson. After the Senior Night celebration, Jackson went on to lead the Lopes to victory as she posted season highs for points (19) and rebounds (eight) while adding five assists and three steals in 32 minutes.

"Nana had an incredible night," GCU head coach Molly Miller said of Jackson. "There's a lot of heightened emotions, but she channeled that emotion into some fierce play."

Akin-Otiko has not been able to play this season because of an ACL injury that occurred right before the start of the season.

"She had to face some adversity with that knee injury early, but she's been bought in from the get-go," Miller said about Akin-Otiko. "She's a great leader, I think she loses her voice every game on the bench, being as supportive as she can."

A special night for a special group 💗#LopesUp // #SeniorNight pic.twitter.com/miS5OmSn8Q
— GCU Women's Basketball (@GCU_WBB) February 28, 2021

After a dominating performance by the Lopes in a 90-43 win on Friday, the Redhawks did not go down so easily in the second game.

GCU (16-6, 8-4 WAC) finished the first quarter with a seven-point lead while shooting 60% from the field and maintained control for a 37-29 halftime lead with seven points apiece from Jackson and freshman center Katie Scott.

The Redhawks entered the third quarter with intensity and went on an 8-0 run to tie the game at the 7:53 mark, forcing a GCU timeout to regroup.

"For us, we just need to stay the course and do what we do which is play defense," Miller said. "We had some defensive lulls there and then we hit some big shots."

After regrouping, GCU went on a 3-point frenzy with five 3s coming from three different Lopes and ended the quarter with a 60-47 advantage.

Scott hit all four of her fourth-quarter shots to finish with 17 points while freshman Tiarra Brown (11 points, seven rebounds) and sophomore Taylor Caldwell (13 points, five assists) joined Jackson in double-digit scoring too.

Going into the final stretch, the Lopes never took their foot off the gas. A 20-point, 11-rebound fourth quarter was enough to pull away with the 80-64 win.

Up next, the Lopes will have an off-week before heading to Las Vegas to compete in the WAC Tournament. GCU is tied for second place with Utah Valley, which plays Tuesday and Wednesday at Tarleton to finish its regular season. The Lopes have been unable to reschedule a canceled series at Chicago State and may wind up as the No. 3 seed with fewer conference games played than Utah Valley.