Lopes win 77-75 at UT Arlington

Thursday, January 12

Arlington, Texas

6 p.m.

Grand Canyon

12-4,4-1WAC

UT Arlington

7-10,1-4WAC

Grand Canyon

UT Arlington

1/12/2023 8:49:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score Photo Gallery

Evans' 24 points, Zars' 14 rebounds sends GCU to 4th straight win

By: Nick Macdonald

ARLINGTON, Texas – The jump from freshman to sophomore year for Grand Canyon guard Naudia Evans has been progressing since the beginning of this season. Evans added to that leap in a big way on Thursday night, solidifying herself as a top scorer in the WAC with a game-high 24 points – one shy of her career best – with four 3-pointers as GCU won 77-75 at UT Arlington.

Evans added six assists and a steal, as she shot 8 of 19 from the field. Junior forward Olivia Lane finished with 14 points and four boards while freshman forward Emma Krueger had eight rebounds, three steals and three points in a season-high 26 minutes.

Graduate forward Evan Zars, who recorded her 1,000th rebound on Saturday, grabbed a game-high 14 boards to go with six points.

GCU shot 41% from the field and 36% (9 of 25) from 3-point range. Despite shooting 69% from the free throw line, the Lopes went 7 of 8 over the final 91 seconds of play from the line, capped by freshman guard and Dallas native Laila McLeod's two free throws to seal the victory.

GCU (12-4, 4-1 WAC) won its fourth consecutive game after starting with a back-and-forth first quarter in which it led by as much as six (10-4) and trailed by as much as four (21-17). It was tied at 21-21 with 33 seconds before a free throw put the Mavericks ahead to end the first quarter.

Three ties ensued in the second quarter as the teams countered each other's makes. GCU broke free of that trend toward the end of the first half with back-to-back 3s from junior guard Maisa Marcal and Krueger, who put the Lopes up 39-33 with 51 seconds left. An 8-2 run ended the second quarter with the Lopes up 39-35.

As a team, GCU shot 6 of 9 on 3s and 48.1% from the field in the first half. Evans led the team with nine first-half points on 2-of-3 shooting from deep while Zars also scored nine through the first 20 minutes.

The second half started like the first half ended for the Lopes, who came out with two 3s early after a pair of baskets from the Mavericks (7-10, 1-4 WAC). Evans' hot shooting continued, with 14 of her 24 coming in the third quarter to put the Lopes ahead 62-54 after three.

GCU led by as much as nine, 69-60, with 5:40 left in regulation, before the Mavericks went on a 10-1 run to tie the game at 70-70. Over the final 1:38 of play, the Lopes were held without a field goal but succeeded from the line as sophomore guard Aaliyah Collins, Zars and Evans made five straight to put the Lopes up 75-71 with 20 seconds remaining.

UT Arlington converted a layup and made a pair of free throws after a GCU turnover to tie the contest up at 75-75 with 4.6 seconds on the clock. After a timeout, McLeod took a sideline inbound pass and drove to the basket, drawing a shooting foul. McLeod made both free throws, and a last-second heave was blocked as the Lopes won the teams' first-ever meeting.

GCU remains on the road and heads to Edinburg, Texas, to face UT Rio Grande Valley on Saturday at 3 p.m. (Phoenix time) on ESPN+.