West coast road trip starts with Seattle U

Thursday, February 3

Seattle, Wash.

7 p.m. (Phoenix time)

Grand Canyon

Seattle U

2/3/2022 9:25:00 AM | Women's Basketball

Lopes continue WAC play against Redhawks

By: Sierra Smith

The Grand Canyon women's basketball team heads to Seattle to take on the Redhawks of Seattle U Thursday at 7 p.m. (Phoenix time).

TIME TO BOUNCE BACK: After a five-game winning streak, the Lopes fell to first-place Stephen F. Austin at GCU Arena on Monday. The Lopes are looking to bounce back against the Redhawks.
TOP-10 DEFENSIVE STATS: The Lopes rank first in the nation for steals per game (14.3), second in total steals (271) and fourth in turnovers forced per game (24.37). GCU also has the seventh-best turnover margin (plus-6.95).
FRESHMAN TRIO IMPACTS WINNING WAYS: Lopes guards Ja'Mya Powell-Smith (18.1), Naudia Evans (15.2) and Kiyley Flowers (16.6) are each averaging at least 15 minutes this season. Kansas State and South Dakota are the only other programs in the nation that have posted a better record than GCU while playing three freshmen at least 15 minutes per game this season.

The Redhawks rank 13th in the WAC standings with a 1-7 conference record.
Bree Calhoun leads the team as the only Redhawk avering double figures with 12.2 points per game. She is averaging 15.3 points per game in WAC play alone.
Calhoun also leads the Seattle U defense with 2.6 steals per game and ranks second with 3.6 defensive rebounds. Georgia Kehoe leads the team with 5.1 rebounds per game.
Seattle U has eight players that are at least 6-feet tall.
Head coach Suzy Barcomb is in her sixth season at Seattle U and led the Redhawks to the WAC Tournament title in 2018.

GCU vs. Stephen F. Austin

In a collision of defensive styles, Grand Canyon was a smashing success for more than a half against WAC leader Stephen F. Austin.
The Lopes held a lead for the first 24 minutes, forced the Ladyjacks to miss 14 consecutive shots over the middle of the game, defended Stephen F. Austin to its season low for shooting (34.1%) shooting and season high for turnovers (24).
But GCU could not keep that winning potion bottled up, spilling the lead and allowing the Ladyjacks to maintain a perfect WAC record with a 61-43 victory at GCU Arena.
The GCU lead disintegrated with a second half of 2-for-23 shooting and 11 turnovers, but the opportunity to hold the lead lingered because the Lopes continued to lock down the Ladyjacks. With an 0-for-4 start that included three turnovers, Stephen F. Austin was shooting 24% from the field for the first 24 minutes of Monday night's game.
The game marked Lopes season lows for field goal percentage (24.1%) and 3-point shooting percentage (11.1%).
GCU made one last surge defensively by forcing four consecutive fourth-quarter turnovers, part of the Ladyjacks' season-high 24 turnovers. But after Stephen F. Austin's quarter-opening 3, the Lopes could not reduce the lead to double digits by making one shot for a second consecutive quarter.