1/24/2024 10:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball, Paul Coro
Share:
In her 2nd stint at GCU, point guard became starter as 8-game winning streak began
By: Paul Coro
Jada Holland is starring as the starting point guard of Grand Canyon, just like she was in the Lopes' 2019-20 season.
Â
With two other college stops and nearly four years between GCU appearances, Holland's return to Phoenix makes for a full circle that is more like a roller-coaster ride with the same starting and ending points.
 After three transfers, Holland was not cleared to play this season until Dec. 17 but her play has been reminiscent of when she was an All-WAC first-team honoree four seasons ago. GCU (17-3, 8-0 WAC) has won eight consecutive games since Holland became a starter, averaging 11.1 points and 5.9 assists in those wins with only 2.3 turnovers per game.
Â
"I'm grateful to be back where I am," Holland said. "Basketball is fun again. It feels like home. I don't think my heart ever left here. It was the hardest thing that I had to do. It was 18-year-old Jada not knowing how Coach Miller was going to be or how the dynamic was going to be. I've watched every single game since I left. They say for Lope for Life. I am that."
Â
Holland left in the 2020 offseason when Miller took over and played for UC Riverside (two seasons) and San Jose State (one season) before using her COVID fifth-year waiver to return to GCU.
Â
She did not previously play with any current Lopes but her best friend, previous GCU teammate Tianna Brown, is the older sister of Lopes four-year standout Tiarra Brown, who was Miller's first GCU recruit.
Â
Holland committed to summer workouts and learning a new system with no promise of being cleared to play. She embraced the role and became a player-coach once the season began without her on the court, leading to her sudden return becoming a sudden impact. The Lopes have averaged 11.3 more points per game with Holland at the offensive helm and cut turnovers by 5.2 per game.
Â
"Jada has been a joy to coach," Miller said. "She has really become an extension of me out on the court, which has helped our team tremendously. We are very similar in a lot of ways, which I think helps her understand my thought process and in-game mentality. Being on the same page as your point guard definitely helps our team as a whole."
 But for all her experience of 88 career starts, even a familiar campus brought a new situation for Holland. She had never played on a team with such intense defensive demands or one with the high expectations of a WAC preseason favorite.
Â
"I was the new piece trying to figure out how they're playing and get my feet wet," Holland said. "I was trying to get them to figure out if I could play with them. It would be weird for four people to switch around one person.
Â
"I haven't played with a lot of people who can do what our team can do. Trying to figure that out was a little hard, but it was fun. I was a little lost and confused. I felt like a freshman all over again while I'm still trying to be that fifth-year point guard who gets everybody together."
Â
In the summer, Lopes players Trinity San Antonio and Laura and Sydney Erikstrup were absent for national team competition while guard Sydney Palma was out following a sports hernia surgery. With Holland missing the first 10 games and injuries sidelining Brown and San Antonio recently, last week's games were the debut of the full-fledged Lopes.
Â
With a point guard kinship, Holland and Miller are clicking. Holland is averaging a career-high 5.3 assists per game with an appreciation for Miller's acumen and the program's amenities that she does not think she would have held four years ago.
 "I'm a piece of her, and she's a piece of me," Holland said of Miller. "It's good to be on the same page as your head coach and for your head coach to communicate, good or bad, what they need from you. It's coming from love."
Â
Holland had that love and coaching growing up in a big sports family in Vancouver, British Columbia, and Pleasanton, California. Her parents, Robert and Pamela, have operated Holland Fitness and Performance after her father's Canadian Football League career.
Her brother, Jevon, is a Pro Bowl candidate as a three-year safety for the Miami Dolphins while her oldest brother, Jamirr, also played in the CFL.
Â
Holland grew up as a center in basketball because she was the tallest player on her youth teams. Now often the shortest player on the court at 5 feet 6, her play stands tall to put position GCU in position for its first WAC championship this season.
Â
"I think I was supposed to hop around to find this group," Holland said. "I'm grateful every single day."
The Holland family: Robert, Jevon, Jada, Jamirr and Pamela
After three transfers, Holland was not cleared to play this season until Dec. 17 but her play has been reminiscent of when she was an All-WAC first-team honoree four seasons ago. GCU (17-3, 8-0 WAC) has won eight consecutive games since Holland became a starter, averaging 11.1 points and 5.9 assists in those wins with only 2.3 turnovers per game.
But for all her experience of 88 career starts, even a familiar campus brought a new situation for Holland. She had never played on a team with such intense defensive demands or one with the high expectations of a WAC preseason favorite.
"I'm a piece of her, and she's a piece of me," Holland said of Miller. "It's good to be on the same page as your head coach and for your head coach to communicate, good or bad, what they need from you. It's coming from love."
