Akin-Otiko gets winning 3, fitting moment

Saturday, January 8

Phoenix, Ariz.

2 p.m.

Grand Canyon

Lamar

Photo by: Skyler Coblentz

1/8/2022 5:06:00 PM | Women's Basketball, Paul Coro

Box Score Photo Gallery

GCU rallies from 8 down in 4th, 6 down in OT to beat Lamar

By: Paul Coro

All the good karma in the basketball world led Grand Canyon's Chloe Akin-Otiko to be alone in the corner of the GCU Arena court with the ball and the game on the line Saturday.

Akin-Otiko never knew if she would get a moment like this when she ran track four years at Kansas, took the chance to play Lopes basketball as a graduate student but missed last season for knee surgery and was out three weeks last month for an ankle injury.

But on an afternoon when she played five minutes, Akin-Otiko's first made field goal in a month was a game-winning 3-pointer with 4.7 seconds remaining in overtime to lift depleted GCU to a 73-72 conference victory against Lamar.

The Lopes (9-5, 2-1 WAC) beat the nation's top-ranked 3-point defense with a 3-pointer that sent Akin Otiko's bench teammates spinning, soaring and screaming in joy for her.

Chloe Akin-Otiko

"I'm just thankful to be in a place like GCU and have the opportunity to play here," said Akin-Otiko, whose teammates doused her with water in the postgame locker room. "I knew there was a reason God put me here. That shot is nice, but it's been the whole experience."

All of Akin-Otiko's experience helped in that moment.

GCU was limited to nine players Thursday because of health and safety protocols and two starters fouled out. Akin-Otiko looked like a former Kansas track star when she sprinted upcourt and past Lamar's defense, just as sophomore Tiarra Brown dribbled the length of the court and sucked all five Cardinals defenders in the paint before passing to Akin-Otiko.

"Make a play," GCU head coach Molly Miller had told Brown after her two point guards fouled out.

Once Brown read the defensive collapse and dished, that is when Akin-Otiko looked like her Nebraska high school's career scoring leader by knocking down the 3.

"Everyone talks about how deserving Chloe is for a moment like that, but I get to live it every day," Miller said. "I see why she deserves that moment. Every single practice, she never – and that's hard to say for anyone – has a bad day. She always has great attitude and that's good karma for her."

The Lopes had to sweat more than Lamar missing a paint shot before the overtime buzzer. The Cardinals led 58-53 with two minutes remaining in regulation, but GCU graduate guard Amara Graham made he fifth 3-pointer and Lopes freshman guard Ja'mya Powell-Smith followed with a driving layup to tie the score at 60-60, where Powell-Smith kept it with an ensuing strip steal.

Until Akin-Otiko's game-winning 3, GCU had not led since the first three minutes of the second half. Lamar took a 68-62 lead in overtime before Brown made a 3-pointer and a reverse layup. Lopes junior forward Dominique Phillips' 3-point play followed to cut the Cardinals lead to 71-70 with 11.9 seconds to play.

Tiarra Brown

Lamar made one of the next two free throws on its 14-for-25 afternoon at the charity stripe, setting up Brown to take the inbound pass without a time out and top off her 17-point, eight-rebound game with her third assist for Akin-Otiko.

"It was the perfect scenario," said Graham, who scored a game-high 19 points and fouled out before the final possession. "I love that it came for somebody like Chloe. She deserves it."

Moving to 7-1 at GCU Arena looked like it might come far easier when the Lopes stormed out to a 16-2 lead by opening the game with four consecutive made 3-pointers from freshman Naudia Evans (two), Graham and Powell-Smith.

Evans led or shared the GCU lead for rebounds (eight), assists (six) and steals (three) while scoring 12 with Powell-Smith, a freshman in her first start, adding another 13 points, six rebounds and two steals.

The Lopes' lead dwindled to 35-30 with 10 first-half turnovers negating much of the work that their pressure defense did for 14 Lamar turnovers. The Cardinals cleaned up their ball care in the second half, making one turnover in the first 15 1/2 minutes.

But even when GCU was not getting its usual haul of steals, its defense was getting stops. Lamar (5-5, 0-1 WAC) did not make a field goal for the final eight minutes of regulation to allow for a GCU 9-1 finish that forced overtime.

"There were a lot of 10-9-8s, when they are shooting with single digits on the shot clock," Miller said. "When you can make them work that long and get them out of their rhythm, that's frustrating for the other team when they have to work that hard offensively."

It was the response GCU needed after taking its first home loss Thursday night, when Miller was among the Lopes missing because of health and safety protocols.

"We didn't like the way last game went, but we had to have a short memory," Graham said. "We missed Coach Miller. She got on us more and we found a way."