Season starts at home vs. Saint Mary's

Monday, November 6

Phoenix, Ariz.

4 p.m.

Grand Canyon

Saint Mary's

11/5/2023 12:00:00 PM | Women's Basketball

WAC favorite GCU begins quest for its 1st WAC title

By: Nick Macdonald

Monday, Nov. 6 \| 4 p.m. \| GCU Arena \| Phoenix, Ariz.

	SAINT MARY'S (CA) GAELS 0-0	at	GRAND CANYON LOPES 0-0

WATCH: ESPN+ \| STATS: LINK \| TICKETS: LINK \| GAME NOTES: LINK

Grand Canyon begins the 2023-24 campaign at home against Saint Mary's in the first-ever meeting between the two schools.
GCU has won its last five home openers and is 3-0 in home openers under head coach Molly Miller.
Saint Mary's, picked to finish sixth in the WCC Preseason Poll, finished 13-18 last season and 6-12 in WCC play. The game will be Jeff Cammon's first as head coach of the Gaels.

GCU returns six players from last year's team that won 21 games and made it to a WAC tournament semifinal for the third consecutive season.
The returnees include All-WAC first-team player Tiarra Brown as well as last season's leading scorer, Naudia Evans. Starters Olivia Lane and Sydney Palma return, with McKenna Simons and Asha Sra also back.
The Lopes brought in eight new players via the transfer portal. Trinity San Antontio, an All-WAC first-team player for California Baptist last season, headlines GCU's new arrivals, with Big West Defensive Player of the Year Kristyna Jeskeova and Utah Valley forward Shay Fano also joining the squad. Callie Cooper (UC Santa Barbara), Jada Holland (San Jose State), Anna Ostlie (Boise State), Laura Erikstrup (San Diego) and Sydney Erikstrup (Arizona State) round out the newcomer group.

The Lopes begin year 36 overall and year 11 in the Division I era Monday night.
Head coach Molly Miller enters her fourth season in Phoenix and 10th overall, owning a 61-27 record as the Lopes head coach and 241-44 overall mark.
Miller enters the season ranked fourth among active coaches in winning percentage (.846). She trails only Kim Caldwell (Marshall), Geno Auriemma (UConn) and Kim Mulkey (LSU).
GCU was tabbed first in the WAC Preseason Coaches Poll, tallying six first-place votes. In addition, San Antonio and Brown were named to the Preseason All-WAC Team. The Lopes are the only team with multiple players on the conference's preseason team.
Lopes assistant coach Laura Dinkins, who spent the past six seasons at Long Beach State, will be on the sidelines for the first time at GCU. Dinkins served as Saint Mary's head coach Jeff Cammon's assistant coach at Long Beach State from 2017-23.
The Lopes are 37-8 at GCU Arena since Miller took the helm in 2020. GCU has won at least 12 games at home in each of her three seasons in Phoenix, including a season-high 13 last year. The Lopes have 17 games at home this season, including six of the first seven regular-season contests.

Saint Mary's opens its season on the road under new head coach Jeff Cammon, who spent the past six seasons as head coach of the Long Beach State.
The Gaels return their top scorer from a year ago, Ali Bamberger, who averaged 14.2 points and a tea- best 8.4 rebounds per game. She also recorded 24 blocks, 24 steals, 53 assists and shot a team-high 46.9% from the floor with a 32.9% mark from 3-point range.
Saint Mary's was tabbed to finish sixth in the WCC Preseason Poll. Bamberger was named to the WCC All-Preseason Team.
The Gaels added five new players to its roster, including Ruby Vlahov, who was a captain of the Western Australian State teams for the U16 and U20 age groups.

Monday's season opener is the first meeting between the two schools in program history.
It is the first matchup for the Lopes against a WCC opponent since a home game vs. Loyola Marymount on Dec. 5, 2020.

GCU heads on the road Nov. 11 for its first away contest of the season at North Dakota.
Tipoff is set for 6 p.m. (Phoenix time) at Betty Engelstad Sioux Center.