Zars zings North Dakota with big game

Friday, November 25

Phoenix, Ariz.

2:30 p.m.

Grand Canyon

4-0,0-0WAC

North Dakota

2-3,0-0Summit League

North Dakota

Grand Canyon

11/25/2022 5:46:00 PM | Women's Basketball, Paul Coro

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Lopes move to 4-0 as defense holds Hawks to 37.5% shooting

By: Paul Coro

Evan Zars had played 116 college basketball games and recorded 20 double-doubles before Friday and still had not tapped into the game that the graduate power forward unleashed to keep her Grand Canyon team undefeated.

Zars posted her first career "20-10" game and racked up the second-highest scoring performance of her career with 22 points and 12 rebounds in the Lopes' 73-60 win over North Dakota at GCU Arena.

The Lopes (4-0) opened the GCU Classic with a senior-laden opponent that brought a physical style and a top-10 national scorer. GCU held Kacie Borowicz to 12 points, nearly half of her 23.5 scoring average, and dictated tempo to lead for all of the last three quarters.

Phoenix, AZ. Nov. 25, 2022: GCU gets their fourth straight win with their 70-63 rout of North Dakota during the GCU Womens Basketball Classic at GCU Arena.

Phoenix, AZ. Nov. 25, 2022: GCU gets their fourth straight win with their 70-63 rout of North Dakota during the GCU Womens Basketball Classic at GCU Arena.

Zars, a 6-foot-2 transfer from Western Illinois, had faced former conference foe North Dakota six previous times and shot 39%. With her new team, style and role, she made 8 of 10 shots on Friday. That included making three 3-pointers, the most she had hit since setting her career score high of 25 in February 2020.

"The coaches here have given me a lot of freedom and my teammates have a lot of confidence in me," Zars said. "I'm really appreciative of all of that. I'm gaining more confidence in myself, but I owe it all to my coaches and teammates for always having the confidence in me to make my own reads."

Zars did it despite taking only one shot the first quarter and going 1 for 3 in the first half. Zars scored in the post on the second half's first possession and wound up with 12 third-quarter points, including two 3-pointers that GCU set up on pick-and-pops against North Dakota's sagging defense.

"North Dakota's a smart team," Lopes head coach Molly Miller said. "They're clued in to disciplined basketball, so I thought we did a pretty good job responding to a completely different style. Even as the game went on, we adjusted because they really packed it in the paint and left no room to operate."

Phoenix, AZ. Nov. 25, 2022: GCU gets their fourth straight win with their 70-63 rout of North Dakota during the GCU Womens Basketball Classic at GCU Arena.

GCU, which entered Friday as the national steals leader, picked up 12 more against North Dakota with sophomore guard Aaliyah Collins and junior guard Sydney Palma each snatching three.

The Lopes forced 22 turnovers and held the Fighting Hawks (2-3) to 37.5% shooting, but GCU also committed 21 turnovers. The Lopes went most of the first half without junior standout Tiarra Brown because of foul trouble, but junior guard Maisa Marcal added a pair of 3-pointers to help make up for her absence and put GCU ahead 32-22 at the break.

"We lose some of that defensive intensity when Tiarra's not out there," Miller said. "She's our energy bug on defense and knows where everyone is supposed to go and what we're doing. We had to get that energy spark without her, which is hard to do, but it was good to go into the halftime locker room knowing she's rested."

With Zars' 12, the Lopes racked up 27 third-quarter points to take a 59-44 lead into the fourth quarter, where they opened their largest lead of 17 on three occasions. They shot 38% from 3-point range with freshman guard Ellie Buzzelle and Zars each making three and Brown and Marcal each adding two.

"We're still figuring out how one another play because there are a lot of learning moment with 10 new faces in a unique system," Miller said. "This was a quality opponent for us to face and hopefully we can learn a lot from a win."

When it ended, Zars' teammates swarmed her in celebration of recording her 21st double-double after they had been encouraging her to shoot more. She had tried one 3-pointer in the previous three games combined, but her teammates know she can do it from practices and Miller saw it when she was recruiting her as a guard in Kansas before she grew to 6-2.

"We have a cool team in that everyone has energy for everybody else," Zars said. "It's really fun to be a part of. My coaches and teammates have been pushing me to look for my shot and to take it when I'm open. I'm thankful for them to push me, so I can have a game like this every once in a while."

The Lopes get a glimpse into postseason pattern Saturday by turning around for another home game in less than 24 hours. Its GCU Classic finale will be against Lindenwood at 2:30 p.m. with a chance to have the first 5-0 start in Lopes program history.