Flipped script puts Lopes in WAC title game

Friday, March 11

Las Vegas, Nev.

2:30 p.m. PT / 3:30 p.m. MST

Grand Canyon

22-8,14-4WAC

California Baptist

23-8,13-5WAC

California Baptist

Grand Canyon

3/11/2022 4:46:00 PM | Women's Basketball, Paul Coro

Box Score Photo Gallery

Brown, Graham each score 22 to avenge 2021 loss to CBU

By: Paul Coro

LAS VEGAS — Grand Canyon women's basketball is all grown up.

On the same Orleans Arena court where California Baptist stormed in celebration of beating GCU for a WAC Tournament championship a year ago, the Lopes eliminated the Lancers in a WAC Tournament semifinal Friday to give themselves a chance to dance Saturday night.

GCU (22-8) held off CBU (23-8) nearly all game, using guards Tiarra Brown and Amara Graham scoring 22 points apiece and a unified fortitude to beat the Lancers for the third time this season. Friday's 64-60 win puts the Lopes in the WAC Tournament championship game for the second straight year against an opponent that went 17-1 in conference play – Stephen F. Austin.

"Beating a really good team like that is hard to do for a third time in a row, but we were just locked in," Miller said. "I almost felt like we won this game at shootaround. You can kind of tell as a coach when a team is ready to get after it. I thought we really did a great job of focusing and playing with determination. We imposed our will defensively.

"We're really a unit right now. I just feel connected with these kids and I think they feel connected with each other. If you're going to do something special in March, you need to be together and we're thick as thieves right now. We're like glue."

Going into Saturday's championship game at 3 p.m. (Phoenix time) on ESPN+, the Lopes will carry the momentum of a gut-check win and a different swagger than they had in head coach Molly Miller's first season last year.

Tiarra Brown

GCU did not trail until there was 1:52 remaining in the semifinal, but only allowed it to last 23 seconds. Brown, a sophomore, delivered a clutch step-through shot with her left hand to start the 5-0 run that secured crunch-time control along with senior forward Kennedi Shorts stuffing a Brittney Thomas shot at the other end.

"I had faith that we were all going to step up and get mad over going back and forth with them in the last quarter," Brown said. "Coach Miller called a play for me. They know I'm going to penetrate or pull up. I just had to be composed in the situation and it went our way."

Brown made 9 of 18 shots with a full arsenal of pull-up jumpers, reverse drives and bank shots. Her 22 points went along with getting a season-high five steals for the second consecutive game against CBU and adding six reb0unds and three assists.

Graham accrued her 22 points differently, sinking a pair of 3-pointers and going 8 for 9 at the free-throw line. She played 36 minutes and the Lopes were outscored by 11 points in the four minutes that she rested.

"This is what I came to GCU for," said Graham, a graduate transfer whose UT Rio Grande Valley season was ended here by GCU last season. "My last year, I wanted to win."

Miller read her team energy right, as the Lopes overwhelmed the Lancers for a 17-6 start that included a series of three consecutive steals (two by Brown, one by graduate power forward Jay McChristine) that led to transition points.

CBU has claimed the past two WAC Player of the Year awards but GCU defended last year's winner, Ane Oleata, into a career-high 10 turnovers and kept this year's winner, Caitlyn Harper without a field goal in 30 minutes. The Lancers committed 18 turnovers, giving them 18 or more turnovers in each loss to the Lopes.

Before the first quarter ended, CBU still closed the gap to 22-21. The Lopes kept staving off every push, even taking the lead back into double digits early in the third quarter before a cold shooting spell brought CBU back within three entering the fourth quarter.

Brown made two other clutch baskets, a pull-up jumper and a fastbreak score, to keep GCU ahead. After her go-ahead shot with 1:29 remaining, Graham poked Oleata's dribble loose to prompt a shot-clock violation and allow the Lopes to close out the game on free-throw shooting.