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Schedule toughens with Conference USA additions
8/3/2023 5:05:00 PM | Women's Basketball
GCU hosts defending conference champ Middle Tennessee, travels to Liberty
The Grand Canyon women's basketball schedule received an injection of stiff competition with the beginning of a multi-year scheduling initiative formed by the WAC and Conference USA.
The inaugural home and away matchups for GCU will bring defending Conference USA champion Middle Tennessee to GCU Arena and send the Lopes to Liberty, which was the Atlantic Sun runner-up last season before moving to Conference USA this year.
"This crossover with Conference USA will strengthen our nonconference schedule and challenge us before we start WAC play," GCU head coach Molly Miller said. "We are definitely going to face some great competition. Both Liberty and Middle Tennessee are consistently top-25 teams in the mid-major polls, and their winning traditions will prove to be tough tests for us. I'm excited for our team to compete and measure up against these great programs."
The games' dates and GCU's other nonconference games will be released later to supplement its 20-game WAC schedule.
Middle Tennessee will be one of the best programs to ever visit GCU Arena, as it comes off NCAA tournament trips in two of its past three seasons. The Blue Raiders were ranked in the top 25 at the end of last regular season and landed at No. 33 in the final NCAA Evaluation Tool (NET) rankings.
Four starters return from Middle Tennessee's 28-5 season, which senior guard Savannah Wheeler led with 15.1 points, 3.0 assists and 1.4 steals per game.
The Blue Raiders have reached 11 NCAA tournaments and received six WNIT berths in head coach Rick Insell's 18 years at the helm. He had last season's team on a 10-game winning streak before an 82-60 NCAA tournament loss to No. 21 Colorado in the first round.
The conference crossover's road game sends GCU to Liberty, where the Flames have been one of the nation's toughest home teams. They have gone 42-3 at Liberty Arena over the past three seasons, including a 14-1 mark there last season.
The Flames also have built a winning tradition under a longtime leader, 25th-year head coach Carey Green. He ranks 20th nationally with a .716 winning percentage (547-217) that includes 14 NCAA tournament teams. Liberty has 52-14 over the past seasons, matching the program's best two-year win total.
In its final Atlantic Sun season, the Flames finished one game behind champion Florida Gulf Coast. Two Liberty starters return from that team in 5-foot-11 junior guard Emma Hess and 6-foot-1 senior forward Jordan Bailey.
GCU returns leading scorers Tiarra Brown, Naudia Evans and Olivia Lane from last season's 21-10 team and added eight Division I transfers, including All-WAC first-team guard Trinity San Antonio.
The inaugural home and away matchups for GCU will bring defending Conference USA champion Middle Tennessee to GCU Arena and send the Lopes to Liberty, which was the Atlantic Sun runner-up last season before moving to Conference USA this year.
"This crossover with Conference USA will strengthen our nonconference schedule and challenge us before we start WAC play," GCU head coach Molly Miller said. "We are definitely going to face some great competition. Both Liberty and Middle Tennessee are consistently top-25 teams in the mid-major polls, and their winning traditions will prove to be tough tests for us. I'm excited for our team to compete and measure up against these great programs."The games' dates and GCU's other nonconference games will be released later to supplement its 20-game WAC schedule.
Middle Tennessee will be one of the best programs to ever visit GCU Arena, as it comes off NCAA tournament trips in two of its past three seasons. The Blue Raiders were ranked in the top 25 at the end of last regular season and landed at No. 33 in the final NCAA Evaluation Tool (NET) rankings.
Four starters return from Middle Tennessee's 28-5 season, which senior guard Savannah Wheeler led with 15.1 points, 3.0 assists and 1.4 steals per game.
The Blue Raiders have reached 11 NCAA tournaments and received six WNIT berths in head coach Rick Insell's 18 years at the helm. He had last season's team on a 10-game winning streak before an 82-60 NCAA tournament loss to No. 21 Colorado in the first round.
The conference crossover's road game sends GCU to Liberty, where the Flames have been one of the nation's toughest home teams. They have gone 42-3 at Liberty Arena over the past three seasons, including a 14-1 mark there last season.
The Flames also have built a winning tradition under a longtime leader, 25th-year head coach Carey Green. He ranks 20th nationally with a .716 winning percentage (547-217) that includes 14 NCAA tournament teams. Liberty has 52-14 over the past seasons, matching the program's best two-year win total.
In its final Atlantic Sun season, the Flames finished one game behind champion Florida Gulf Coast. Two Liberty starters return from that team in 5-foot-11 junior guard Emma Hess and 6-foot-1 senior forward Jordan Bailey.
GCU returns leading scorers Tiarra Brown, Naudia Evans and Olivia Lane from last season's 21-10 team and added eight Division I transfers, including All-WAC first-team guard Trinity San Antonio.
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