Strong 2nd half guides 5th straight victory

Thursday, January 11

Abilene, Texas

5 p.m. MST

Grand Canyon

13-3,5-0WAC

Abilene Christian

6-7,2-2WAC

Grand Canyon

Abilene Christian

1/11/2024 8:40:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score Photo Gallery

Lopes outscore Wildcats 20-8 in 3rd quarter at Abilene Christian

By: Nick Macdonald

ABILENE, Texas – Whether it be a barrage of 3-pointers, points off the bench or its signature lockdown defense, Grand Canyon has found a way to win over the course of the last month. Despite being down at halftime Thursday night for the first time in five games, the Lopes fueled off a dominant third quarter to beat Abilene Christian 64-55 for their fifth straight win..

GCU (13-3, 5-0 WAC) came out of the halftime tunnel with its best shooting performance in the third quarter, converting 20 points – game high for both teams in any quarter – and shot 52% as its defense held the Wildcats to 15% from the field, no 3-pointers on five attempts and eight points for the quarter.

The Lopes' offense shot 53% for the entire second half and forced 11 turnovers to take control of the contest at Moody Coliseum for their 11th win in the past 12 games.

"Road wins are hard to come by in this conference," GCU head coach Molly Miller said. "We played an extremely scrappy, competitive, well-coached, disciplined team and that was the locker room talk. We didn't want to change what we were doing. I thought we were getting some good shots in the first half, some of which weren't falling, but we wanted to dig down a little deeper. I thought they (the Wildcats) were scrapping it out a little bit better than us for those 50-50 balls, but we really rose to the challenge and it was a team effort."

GCU graduate forward Sydney Erikstrup continued her dominant run in the scoring column, leading the Lopes with 16 points with two made 3-pointers for her third consecutive double-digit scoring game. Erikstrup has 43 points and eight made 3s in her last three contests.

Lopes senior forward Olivia Lane inched closer to a milestone achievement. She now needs six points to reach 1,000 for her career after scoring 12 on Thursday night with eight rebounds, seven of which came on the offensive glass. Abilene Christian (6-7, 2-2 WAC) entered as the WAC's leading rebounding team at 41 per game and was held to 32 by GCU.

With playmakers Trinity San Antonio and Tiarra Brown out for the third straight game, fifth-year point guard Jada Holland captained the offense with 12 points, seven rebounds and six assists. From the beginning of the season until a Dec. 20 loss at Liberty, the Lopes tallied eight double-digit assists games. During its current five-game winning streak since Dec. 27, they have recorded double-digit assists in each game played with Holland dishing 31 in that span.

"Jada makes us go on the offensive end and the defensive end," Miller said. "She's our catalyst, our leader and our mouthpiece out there. She's got a lot of experience and knows what play to make, when to make it and how to make it which comes with her experience. She's done a good job inserting herself and being aggressive on both ends."

GCU junior guard Naudia Evans added nine points, four rebounds and five assists, and sophomore guard McKenna Simons added nine points off the bench, including an and-one 3-pointer that sparked the offense down the stretch.

It was a back-and-forth contest for the entirety of the first half, with the Wildcats' biggest lead reaching four points twice in the first quarter. GCU led 25-21 late in the second before an 11-5 Wildcats run put GCU down two points at intermission. It was the first time being down at halftime since the Dec. 20 game at Liberty.

The Lopes took control in the third quarter and led by as many as 14 points. Abilene Christian cut the lead to five points early in the fourth, but a 12-3 run over the course of 5 1/2 minutes put GCU back up 14 points.

GCU shot 31% from 3-point range, marking the fifth concsecutive game over the 30% mark. It was also the fifth straight game holding an opponent to 60 points or fewer as the Lopes entered the night as the 28th-best scoring defense in the country (54.8 points allowed per game). It was also the fourth game this season that the Lopes have forced 20 or more turnovers.

The Lopes remain on the road to take on Tarleton State on Saturday. Tipoff is set for 1 p.m. (Phoenix time) on ESPN+.