3-ball guides Lopes to 20-point win at Utah State

Wednesday, January 28

Logan, Utah

11 a.m. (MST)

Grand Canyon

7-14,6-5Mountain West

Utah State

6-14,2-9Mountain West

Grand Canyon

Utah St.

1/28/2026 1:59:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score Photo Gallery

GCU's Valenti-Paea leads with 16, joins 3 Lopes in double figures

By: Nick Macdonald

LOGAN, Utah – It was an early-morning rise for Grand Canyon at Utah State, where the Lopes and Aggies tipped off at 11 a.m. Wednesday for Field Trip Day.

It was the Lopes who stayed up for an early lead against the Aggies, paving the way to an 86-66 GCU victory at Dee Glen Smith Spectrum.

The Lopes (7-14, 6-5 Mountain West) knocked down a season-best 13 shots from 3-point range, led by graduate guard Casey Valenti-Paea making four 3s for most of her team-high 16 points.

Moving to 4-2 in MW road games, GCU produced season highs for assists (21) and field goals made (32) while shooting 57% from the field and grabbing 42 rebounds, the Lopes' sixth game of the season with 40 or more boards. The Lopes moved to 5-1 in such contests.

Lopes senior forward Anisa Jefffries came off the bench for the first time this season after missing the previous game for illness, but she still posted seven points and three rebounds in the first quarter to help GCU to a 16-8 lead.

Valenti-Paea, whose previous season high was nine points, nearly doubled that by sinking four 3s in the first half with three coming in the second quarter. The Australian was not the only GCU contributor from beyond the arc as junior Julianna LaMendola, freshman Ines Zounia and graduate Ale'jah Douglas also each knocked down a 3 in the second quarter.

The Lopes' 28 second-quarter points put them ahead 44-28 at halftime and was one point shy of its season scoring high, a 29-point fourth quarter at Oregon.

GCU's leading scorer, sophomore Chloe Mann at 13 points per game, went into halftime without a field goal attempt. That changed in the third quarter, when she notched six points that included a 4-of-4 clip from the free throw line. The Lopes had another 20-plus scoring quarter with eight contributors in the third quarter.

Holding a double-digit lead since the second quarter, Utah State opened the fourth quarter with a 13-3 run to trim the lead to 70-62.

Mann's acrobatic layins and a pair of 3-pointers from Jeffries and senior Karley Johnson pushed that lead to a comfortable 19 points.

Valenti-Paea added seven boards and two steals to her 16-point outing while Jeffries finished the day with a team-best eight boards to go wtih 14 points and four assists. Douglas (11 points) and Mann (10) also tallied double figures while LaMendola finished with eight points, six rebounds and four assists.

After playing three of its past four games on the road, GCU returns home to face Wyoming (7-12, 4-6 MW) at 1 p.m. Saturday. The game will be broadcast on Arizona's Family 3TV and streamed on Mountain West Network.