Lopes welcome 1st WAC pair to GCU Arena

Thursday, January 6

Phoenix, Ariz.

6 p.m.

Grand Canyon

UT Rio Grande Valley

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Photo by: Elizabeth Tinajero

1/5/2022 11:01:00 AM | Women's Basketball

GCU hosts UTRGV, Lamar for 1st WAC home games

By: Sierra Smith

Thursday-Saturday, Jan. 6-8 \| Phoenix, Arizona \| GCU Arena

	UT RIO GRANDE VALLEY VAQUEROS (4-8, 0-1 WAC) LAMAR CARDINALS (5-4, 0-0 WAC)	vs.	GRAND CANYON LOPES (8-4, 1-0 WAC)

GCU vs. UT Rio Grande Valley \| Thursday @ 6 p.m. \| WATCH: Livestream \| STATS: View GCU vs. Lamar \| Saturday @ 2 p.m. \| WATCH: Livestream \| STATS: View

The Grand Canyon women's basketball team begins its home WAC slate with UT Rio Grande Valley on Thursday at 6 p.m. followed by a matchup with Lamar on Saturday at 2 p.m.

THREE THINGS TO KNOW

CAREER HIGH PREPS GRAHAM FOR REUNION: Graduate guard Amara Graham posted a career high six 3-pointers in the WAC opener at Chicago State. Thursday's game against the Vaqueros will be a reunion between Graham and the school she spent the last five years at.
STARTING HOT: The Lopes are 1-0 in conference play after defeating Chicago State in the WAC opener on Dec. 30.
TOP 10 DEFENSE: GCU ranks top 10 in multiple defensive stat categories nationally including No. 2 for steals per game (14.4), No. 3 for total steals (173), No. 5 for turnovers forced per game (24.42) and No. 8 for turnover margin (plus-7.67).

SCOUTING

UT Rio Grande Valley

The Vaqueros (4-8, 0-1 WAC) are coming off a 65-50 loss to Stephen F. Austin.
UTRGV ended the nonconference slate as the host of the South Padre Island Classic, where the Lopes also competed.
Sara Bershers earned the season's first WAC Player of the Week honor for the Vaqueros on Dec. 13.
Bershers leads the team with 15.9 points per game, which ranks No. 5 in the WAC. She also leads the team in 3-point percentage (34.4%), free throws made per game (4.5), rebounds per game (7.3) and blocked shots per game (1.3).
Taylor Muff ranks fifth in the conference for offensive rebounds per game (5.4).
Last season's scoring leader, Amara Graham, transferred to GCU to finish her basketball career after spending five years with UTRGV.

Lamar

The Cardinals (5-4,-0-0 WAC) will play their first-ever WAC game against the Lopes on Saturday at 2 p.m.
Lamar is one of the four Texas schools that joined the conference for the 2021-22 season.
There are two Cardinals averaging double figures with freshman Akasha Davis leading the way with 14.8 points per game and Sabria Dean following with 14.1 points per game.
Davis has earned three WAC Freshman of the Week awards this season.
Anyssia Gibbs leads the Cardinals with 7.6 rebounds per game and Davis ranks second with 7.4 rebounds per game.
The Cardinals rank No. 1 nationally for 3-point field goal defense with opponents shooting 19.9%.
Davis ranks No. 15 in the nation in field goal percentage at 60.8%.
The last game the Cardinals played was on Dec. 15, 2021, against Prairie View A&M. Lamar won 66-46 at home.

LAST TIME OUT

GCU at Chicago State

The Lopes opened WAC play with a 66-49 win at Chicago State.
Amara Graham, last season's WAC scoring leader, kicked off conference play in her hometown with an astounding 25-point performance, including a career-high six 3-pointers. She also had two assists, shot 3 for 3 from the free throw line and scored 13 in the game's decisive third quarter.
Graduate forward Jay McChristine pulled down four offensive rebounds to pace an offense that racked up second-chance opportunities for GCU, grabbing 22 boards and turning them into 18 second-chance points. It marked the Lopes' highest offensive rebounding total of the past five seasons.
The Lopes defense was effective at taking away the basketball in Thursday's game, forcing 22 Chicago State turnovers while holding the Cougars to 33% shooting. Those takeaways turned into 32 points for the Lopes, who were led in steals by sophomore guard Tiarra Brown with three.
GCU (8-4) came out in the first quarter with a 6-2 lead at the 6:49 mark, but a 9-0 run by Chicago State gave the Cougars their biggest lead at 11-6. The Lopes trailed 16-13 at the end of the period.
The second quarter was a back-and-forth battle to finish the first half tied at 33-33. There were five times that the game was tied in the second quarter alone.
Graham dominated the third quarter, going 3 for 3 behind the arc on top of making two free throws. The Lopes headed into the fourth quarter with a 51-42 advantage.
The Lopes outscored the Cougars 15-7 in the fourth, giving them a 15-point win to end 2021 with a bang and start conference play at 1-0.

WHAT'S NEXT?

The Lopes head to Texas next week to face Abilene Christian on Thursday, Jan. 13, at 5 p.m. (Phoenix time), then Tarleton on Saturday, Jan. 15, at 1 p.m (Phoenix time).