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Gandy era begins with GCU's toughest nonconference slate
8/18/2025 10:35:00 AM | Women's Basketball, Paul Coro
Lopes face 3 defending conference champions, plays 4 at home before MW action
To bring out the best in Grand Canyon women's basketball, first-year Lopes head coach Winston Gandy wants GCU to face some of the best programs in the nation.
The mission to ascend Lopes women's basketball will include the program's most aggressive scheduling ever.
With a season-opening game at three-time national champion and 2025 national runner-up South Carolina, GCU's nonconference schedule for this season will include three conference champions and three Final Four programs or coaches of the past seven seasons.
Before its first Mountain West campaign, the Lopes will play a 10-game nonconference slate that features opponents who finished last season with an average NET ranking of 120, which is 109 spots better than the average NET ranking of GCU's nonconference opponents over the previous five seasons.
The Nov. 8 home opener against Idaho State is one of just four nonconference home games for the Lopes. SMU (Nov. 18), in former Arizona coach Adia Barnes' first year, also will visit GCU, along with Saint Mary's (Dec.7) and Santa Clara (Dec. 14).
"The players we are recruiting want to play in these games," Gandy said. "We are working toward something. We could go and schedule a light schedule so it looks like X-Y-Z, and they win this many games in a row. But then you have to wait until conference to find out about your team.
"In the future, we hope to be among those teams."
South Carolina will be the first of three 2025 NCAA Tournament teams that GCU will face this season in its first nine games. The Lopes open the season Nov. 3 at South Carolina, where Gandy was an assistant coach for the 2024 national champion and 2025 runner-up Gamecocks.
That trio of tests will give the Lopes more opponents returning from an NCAA Tournament visit than they have faced in the previous five seasons combined (two). Per HD Intelligence, GCU is projected to play as many Quad 1 and Quad 2 nonconference games this season as it did in the past five seasons combined.
"This schedule sets the table," Gandy said. "Do I want to start every year with a potential favorite to win it all? I do think we need to be tested. What better measuring stick to be tested against than the best. It's only going to make us better as players, as a program and for me as a coach. It's not about how you start the finish. It's how you finish it. This will help us have the type of end of the season that we all want."
GCU will return from South Carolina to prep for a Nov. 8 home opener against Idaho State, which returns its entire primary starting lineup for 18-year head coach Seton Sobolewski. The Bengals' top five scorers are back, including top scorer Tasia Jordan, a 5-foot-8 graduate guard, and top rebounder and playmaker Kacey Spink, a 5-9 senior guard.
After that Saturday game, the Lopes will play three days later at Oregon, which has been in the Top 25 during eight of the past nine seasons under head coach Kelly Graves. The Ducks (20-12) lost in the NCAA Tournament second round at Duke last season and return two starters, senior guard Elisa Mevius, and 6-4 senior Amina Muhammad, while adding All-Mountain West 6-2 forward Mia Jacobs from Fresno State and UCLA 6-1 transfer Avery Cain.
GCU plays Nov. 15 at UC Santa Barbara, where head coach Renee Jimenez came off a Division II Final Four run with Cal State San Marcos to end her first Gauchos campaign with 18 wins, including 12 in the Big West to match UCSB's best total since 2012. Four of the Gauchos' top five scorers return.
The Lopes play their second home game Nov. 18 against SMU, where Barnes takes over after nine years at Arizona to rebuild a Mustangs roster with 12 transfers and two freshmen. Barnes, who coached the 2021 national runner-up at Arizona, brought ex-Wildcat players Sahnya Jah, Mailien Rolf and Paulina Paris.
GCU will play in the Nov. 24-26 Hoopfest at Comerica Center in Frisco, Texas. The nine-team event will give the Lopes matchups with California on Nov. 24 and defending American champion UTSA on Nov. 26.
Cal seventh-year head coach Charmin Smith has increased the Bears' win totals for five consecutive years, leading last season's 25-9 team to the NCAA Tournament in its first ACC season. The Bears reached No. 18 in the nation and return one starter, junior Lulu Twidale, after she averaged 13.2 points. But Cal also added sophomore forward Naya Ojukwu, who averaged 17 points and 9 rebounds for Morgan State, LSU transfer Mjracle Sheppard and South Carolina graduate transfer Sakima Walker.
UTSA set American Conference records with a 26-5 season that included a 17-1 conference roll to the regular-season title. Roadrunners head coach Karen Aston has averaged a six-win annual improvement and returns two starters, 6-1 junior Idara Udo and 5-11 senior Maya Linton.
GCU will face consecutive defending conference champions with the next game being at Gonzaga on Dec. 4. The Zags won their ninth WCC title in head coach Lisa Fortier's 11 years, going 24-11 overall, 17-3 in WCC and 13-3 at home. Gonzaga returns 5-8 sophomore guard Allie Turner (13.4 points per game) and added transfers from Weber State (6-2 junior Taylor Smith, who averaged 13 points and rebounds), Saint Mary's (WCC Freshman of the Year Zeryhia Adkuso) and Cal Poly (senior Sierra Lichtie, who averaged 11 points and 7 rebounds).
The nonconference slate closes with a homestand against two more WCC foes – Saint Mary's on Dec. 7 and Santa Clara on Dec. 14.
Saint Mary's went 14-17 last season and returns two junior starters, 6-1 guard Emily Foy and 6-foot forward Abigail Shoff under third-year head coach Jeff Cammon. He added Santa Clara transfer Malia Latu (10.7 points per game), 6-3 Georgia Grigoropoulou of Greece and freshman Coco Urlacher, niece of NFL linebacker Brian.
Santa Clara is now led by former Northern Arizona head coach Loree Payne, who led the Lumberjacks to more than 20 wins in each of her final three seasons of a nine-year tenure. With only one returning rotation player (6-2 senior Alana Goodchild), Payne brought in a group of proven players that included Big South Player of the Year Ashley Hawkins, a 5-6 graduate guard who averaged 18.9 points for Gardner-Webb, and All-Big Sky senior Sophie Glancey, who averaged 18.1 points and 9.6 rebounds at NAU last season.
"We're really excited about how awesome our administration has been from a support standpoint," Gandy said. "We will find out about ourselves very early, and I think it will only help us toward the end of nonconference.
"That first step is scheduling. We want to be a team in the future that doesn't have to rely on the conference. We're able to help boost the profile of the conference. To do that, you have to play against other tournament-worthy teams and you've got to compete at a really high level against them. I couldn't be more excited about the future and this nonconference. We have a team that is going to compete."
For women's basketball season tickets, click here.
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The mission to ascend Lopes women's basketball will include the program's most aggressive scheduling ever.
With a season-opening game at three-time national champion and 2025 national runner-up South Carolina, GCU's nonconference schedule for this season will include three conference champions and three Final Four programs or coaches of the past seven seasons.Before its first Mountain West campaign, the Lopes will play a 10-game nonconference slate that features opponents who finished last season with an average NET ranking of 120, which is 109 spots better than the average NET ranking of GCU's nonconference opponents over the previous five seasons.
The Nov. 8 home opener against Idaho State is one of just four nonconference home games for the Lopes. SMU (Nov. 18), in former Arizona coach Adia Barnes' first year, also will visit GCU, along with Saint Mary's (Dec.7) and Santa Clara (Dec. 14).
"The players we are recruiting want to play in these games," Gandy said. "We are working toward something. We could go and schedule a light schedule so it looks like X-Y-Z, and they win this many games in a row. But then you have to wait until conference to find out about your team.
"In the future, we hope to be among those teams."
South Carolina will be the first of three 2025 NCAA Tournament teams that GCU will face this season in its first nine games. The Lopes open the season Nov. 3 at South Carolina, where Gandy was an assistant coach for the 2024 national champion and 2025 runner-up Gamecocks.
That trio of tests will give the Lopes more opponents returning from an NCAA Tournament visit than they have faced in the previous five seasons combined (two). Per HD Intelligence, GCU is projected to play as many Quad 1 and Quad 2 nonconference games this season as it did in the past five seasons combined.
"This schedule sets the table," Gandy said. "Do I want to start every year with a potential favorite to win it all? I do think we need to be tested. What better measuring stick to be tested against than the best. It's only going to make us better as players, as a program and for me as a coach. It's not about how you start the finish. It's how you finish it. This will help us have the type of end of the season that we all want."
GCU will return from South Carolina to prep for a Nov. 8 home opener against Idaho State, which returns its entire primary starting lineup for 18-year head coach Seton Sobolewski. The Bengals' top five scorers are back, including top scorer Tasia Jordan, a 5-foot-8 graduate guard, and top rebounder and playmaker Kacey Spink, a 5-9 senior guard.
After that Saturday game, the Lopes will play three days later at Oregon, which has been in the Top 25 during eight of the past nine seasons under head coach Kelly Graves. The Ducks (20-12) lost in the NCAA Tournament second round at Duke last season and return two starters, senior guard Elisa Mevius, and 6-4 senior Amina Muhammad, while adding All-Mountain West 6-2 forward Mia Jacobs from Fresno State and UCLA 6-1 transfer Avery Cain.
GCU plays Nov. 15 at UC Santa Barbara, where head coach Renee Jimenez came off a Division II Final Four run with Cal State San Marcos to end her first Gauchos campaign with 18 wins, including 12 in the Big West to match UCSB's best total since 2012. Four of the Gauchos' top five scorers return.
The Lopes play their second home game Nov. 18 against SMU, where Barnes takes over after nine years at Arizona to rebuild a Mustangs roster with 12 transfers and two freshmen. Barnes, who coached the 2021 national runner-up at Arizona, brought ex-Wildcat players Sahnya Jah, Mailien Rolf and Paulina Paris.
GCU will play in the Nov. 24-26 Hoopfest at Comerica Center in Frisco, Texas. The nine-team event will give the Lopes matchups with California on Nov. 24 and defending American champion UTSA on Nov. 26.
Cal seventh-year head coach Charmin Smith has increased the Bears' win totals for five consecutive years, leading last season's 25-9 team to the NCAA Tournament in its first ACC season. The Bears reached No. 18 in the nation and return one starter, junior Lulu Twidale, after she averaged 13.2 points. But Cal also added sophomore forward Naya Ojukwu, who averaged 17 points and 9 rebounds for Morgan State, LSU transfer Mjracle Sheppard and South Carolina graduate transfer Sakima Walker.
UTSA set American Conference records with a 26-5 season that included a 17-1 conference roll to the regular-season title. Roadrunners head coach Karen Aston has averaged a six-win annual improvement and returns two starters, 6-1 junior Idara Udo and 5-11 senior Maya Linton.
GCU will face consecutive defending conference champions with the next game being at Gonzaga on Dec. 4. The Zags won their ninth WCC title in head coach Lisa Fortier's 11 years, going 24-11 overall, 17-3 in WCC and 13-3 at home. Gonzaga returns 5-8 sophomore guard Allie Turner (13.4 points per game) and added transfers from Weber State (6-2 junior Taylor Smith, who averaged 13 points and rebounds), Saint Mary's (WCC Freshman of the Year Zeryhia Adkuso) and Cal Poly (senior Sierra Lichtie, who averaged 11 points and 7 rebounds).
The nonconference slate closes with a homestand against two more WCC foes – Saint Mary's on Dec. 7 and Santa Clara on Dec. 14.
Saint Mary's went 14-17 last season and returns two junior starters, 6-1 guard Emily Foy and 6-foot forward Abigail Shoff under third-year head coach Jeff Cammon. He added Santa Clara transfer Malia Latu (10.7 points per game), 6-3 Georgia Grigoropoulou of Greece and freshman Coco Urlacher, niece of NFL linebacker Brian.
Santa Clara is now led by former Northern Arizona head coach Loree Payne, who led the Lumberjacks to more than 20 wins in each of her final three seasons of a nine-year tenure. With only one returning rotation player (6-2 senior Alana Goodchild), Payne brought in a group of proven players that included Big South Player of the Year Ashley Hawkins, a 5-6 graduate guard who averaged 18.9 points for Gardner-Webb, and All-Big Sky senior Sophie Glancey, who averaged 18.1 points and 9.6 rebounds at NAU last season.
"We're really excited about how awesome our administration has been from a support standpoint," Gandy said. "We will find out about ourselves very early, and I think it will only help us toward the end of nonconference.
"That first step is scheduling. We want to be a team in the future that doesn't have to rely on the conference. We're able to help boost the profile of the conference. To do that, you have to play against other tournament-worthy teams and you've got to compete at a really high level against them. I couldn't be more excited about the future and this nonconference. We have a team that is going to compete."
For women's basketball season tickets, click here.
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