Women's Basketball Team Hosts Kansas City in the First of Two-Straight Home Games Starting 5 Benedictine (Exhib.) W, 72-60 Thursday Night

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL 2018-19 GAME NOTES

Sarah Woodward, Assistant Director of Athletic Communications · Office: (602) 639-7951 · Cell: (608) 576-1518 E-mail:· [email protected]

GAME 21 - KANSAS CITY NOVEMBER All times listed in MT The Grand Canyon women's basketball team hosts Kansas City in the first of two-straight home games starting 5 Benedictine (Exhib.) W, 72-60 Thursday night. The Lopes are searching for their first win in the month on February after back-to-back losses 9 Incarnate Word W, 74-63 at UTRGV and New Mexico State. Senior center ShaRon Miller holds a double-digit scoring average of 11.3 points 14 East Carolina L, 59-47 per game while junior forward Da'jah Daniel is the most active Lope off the glass at 8.6 rebounds per contest. 17 UNC-Wilmington L, 77-55 GCU has six more regular season games on deck before they head to Vegas for the conference tournament. 23 Indiana State L, 88-81 (2OT) TODAY’S MATCHUP GCU QUICK FIVE 24 LIU Brooklyn W, 65-62 (OT) 1. Head coach Nicole Powell is in her second season at DECEMBER LOPES 2018-19 UMKC the helm after finishing 16-14 overall last season and 2 UC Santa Barbara L, 66-55 5-15 Win-Loss 11-11 guiding the Lopes to a semifinal appearance in their 7 Montana L, 69-47 first-ever WAC tournament. 11 Portland State L, 60-55 Scoring 16 Long Beach State L, 57-50 -9.5 Margin +5.0 2. The pair of newcomers in redshirt senior AJ Cephas and freshman Laura Piera earned preseason All-WAC 20 Santa Clara L, 75-55 55.8 Scoring Avg. 75.3 honors on the second team. JANUARY .408 FG Pct. .422 3. GCU finished fourth in conference play last season and was picked to finish fourth this season by the 3 Utah Valley* L, 57-46 .312 3-Point FG .319 league's head coaches. 5 Seattle U* W, 74-73 (3OT) Pct. 10 New Mexico State* W, 54-51 4. The Lopes welcome seven new players this season, .553 FT Pct. .710 12 UTRGV* L, 66-50 including two transfers and five freshman. Redshirt 17 Chicago State* L, 50-48 33.3 Rebounds 39.4 senior AJ Cephas and juniors Da'jah Daniel join GCU 19 Kansas City* L, 73-45 from other teams, while Kennedi Shorts, Taylor 26 California Baptist* W, 75-71 12.8 Assists 14.2 Caldwell, Laura Piera, Carla Balague and Venla Varis 18.0 Turnovers 16.4 begin their collegiate careers with the Lopes. FEBRUARY 5. GCU hosted a four-game tournament at home over 5.9 Steals 8.8 2 CSU Bakersfield* L, 59-46 Thanksgiving with LIU Brooklyn, Indiana State and UC 7 UTRGV* L, 49-42 2.6 Blocks 3.0 Irvine. 9 New Mexico State* L, 81-52 14 Kansas City* 6 p.m. PROBABLE STARTING FIVE 16 Chicago State* 2 p.m. 21 California Baptist* 7 p.m. MARCH 2 CSU Bakersfield* 2 p.m. 7 Utah Valley* 6 p.m. 9 Seattle U* 2 p.m. 13-16 WAC Tournament Las Vegas, Nev. KAVITA LAURA TAYLOR AJ SHARON 4 AKULA 5 PIERA 11 CALDWELL 23 CEPHAS 53 MILLER

NO. PLAYER POS. GP/GS PPG RPG APG SPG BPG FG% FT% 4 Kavita Akula G 20/20 4.6 1.9 1.7 0.5 0.1 .316 .500 * Denotes WAC games Home games in bold 5 Laura Piera PG 19/19 8.8 2.9 4.0 1.9 0.3 .372 .529 11 Taylor Caldwell G 19/11 7.1 3.5 3.4 1.3 0.5 .327 .471 23 AJ Cephas F 16/15 9.9 6.1 1.7 1.0 1.0 .403 .596 53 ShaRon Miller C 18/16 11.3 5.7 1.1 0.7 0.2 .519 .603

‹ 1 › QUICK FACTS / ROSTERS / MEDIA INFO

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL 2018-19 GRAND CANYON NUMERIC ROSTER COMMUNICATIONS CONTACT No . Name Pos . HT YR Hometown (Previous School) WBB Contact. . . . Sarah Woodward 2. .Kennedi Shorts...... F. . . . 6-1. . . . Fr...... Long Beach, Calif. (Long Beach Poly) Office Phone. . . . . 602-639-7951 4. .Kavita Akula...... G. . . .5-5. . . . Sr...... Bhilai, India (Garden City CC) Cell Phone...... 608-576-1518 5. .Laura Piera. G. . . .5-9. . . . Fr...... Barcelona, Spain (Basket Almeda) Email. . sarah woodward@gcu. edu. 10. .Camille Hailey...... G. . . .5-9. . . . So...... Los Angeles, Calif. (Serra) 11. .Taylor Caldwell...... G. . . .5-9. . . . Fr...... Bakersfield, Calif. (Bakersfield) 12. .Carla Balague...... F. . . .6-2. . . . Fr...... Barcelona, Spain (Femeni Sant Adria) GRAND CANYON UNIVERSITY INFORMATION 14. .Venla Varis...... G. . . 5-11. . . . Fr. . . Vantaa, Finland (Makelanrinteen Senior High) 23. .AJ Cephas...... F. . . 6-0. . . R-Sr...... Antioch, Calif. (Nevada/Deer Valley) School...... Grand Canyon University 32. .Taylor Howard. G. . . 5-11. . . R-Fr...... Houston, Texas (Hightower) Location ...... Phoenix, . . Ariz . 34. .Da'jah Daniel . F. . . .6-4. . . . Jr. . Killeen, Texas (Trinity Valley CC/Harker Heights) Founded ...... 1949 . . 53. .ShaRon Miller...... C. . . 6-0. . . . Sr...... Blaine, Minn. (Northland CC/Blaine) Enrollment...... 20,500 President...... Brian Mueller 2018-19 GRAND CANYON ALPHABETICAL ROSTER Vice President of Athletics . . Mike. Vaught No . Name Pos . HT YR Hometown (Previous School) Faculty Representative . . . . Claude Pensis 4. .Kavita Akula...... G. . . .5-5. . . . Sr...... Bhilai, India (Garden City CC) Affiliation...... NCAA Division I 12. .Carla Balague...... F. . . .6-2. . . . Fr...... Barcelona, Spain (Femeni Sant Adria) Nickname ...... Lopes . 11. .Taylor Caldwell...... G. . . .5-9. . . . Fr...... Bakersfield, Calif. (Bakersfield) Mascot...... Thunder. . 23. .AJ Cephas...... F. . . 6-0. . . R-Sr...... Antioch, Calif. (Nevada/Deer Valley) Colors ...... Purple, Black & White 34. .Da'jah Daniel . F. . . .6-4. . . . Jr. . Killeen, Texas (Trinity Valley CC/Harker Heights) Conference . Western. Athletic Conference (WAC) 10. .Camille Hailey...... G. . . .5-9. . . . So...... Los Angeles, Calif. (Serra) Athletics Website: . . . www GCULopes. com. 32. .Taylor Howard. G. . . 5-11. . . R-Fr...... Houston, Texas (Hightower) 53. .ShaRon Miller...... C. . . 6-0. . . . Sr...... Blaine, Minn. (Northland CC/Blaine) MEDIA INFORMATION 5. .Laura Piera. G. . . .5-9. . . . Fr...... Barcelona, Spain (Basket Almeda) The Grand Canyon Athletics Department is 2. .Kennedi Shorts...... F. . . . 6-1. . . . Fr...... Long Beach, Calif. (Long Beach Poly) served by a communications office staff that 14. .Venla Varis...... G. . . 5-11. . . . Fr. . . Vantaa, Finland (Makelanrinteen Senior High) works diligently to promote the individual and team accomplishments of student- athletes, coaches and staff . The office members handle all sport and department communications and media relations needs, and are happy to serve the working media in any way possible . Our staff will fulfill all GRAND CANYON UNIVERSITY ARENA PROGRAM HISTORY reasonable requests . Opened...... Sept. 1, 2011 First Year of Basketball at GCU �� 1988-89 Credentials All members of the office follow Capacity. 7,000 All-Time Record ��388-448 (.464) the guidelines set forth by the NCAA and Arena Attendance Record...... 7,413(1/9/16) All-Time Division I Record �� 71-67 (.514) the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) in BASKETBALL STAFF All-Time WAC Record (reg. season) ��37-31 (.544) governing the issuance of credentials . All All-Time WAC Tournament Record...... 1-1 (.500) Head Coach ��Nicole Powell (2nd Season) credential requests should be submitted to PRONUNCIATION GUIDE the sport contacts . Alama Mater ��Stanford Grand Canyon Record ��21-29 (.420) Kavita Akula. Kuh-vee-tuh Uh-coo-luh E-mail Releases, game notes and advisories WAC Record ��12-12 (.500) Carla Balague...... Bal-UH-gay are e-mailed to media that cover GCU on a Overall Record ��21-29 (.420) AJ Cephas. SEE-fas regular basis . Media wishing to be added to Assistant Coach ��Nikki Blue (UCLA) Da'jah Daniel...... Day-JUH the e-mail list for women’s basketball should Assistant Coach ��Brad Langston (San Jose St.) Camille Hailey...... Cuh-meal contact sarah woodward@gcu. edu. . Assistant Coach ��Taylor High (Kansas) ShaRon Miller...... SHAY-ron Online Updated bios, notes, rosters, schedules, Director of Ops. �� Chelsea Turner (Cameron) Venla Varis...... V-ARE-us statistics, quotes, etc ., will be available Video Coordinator ��McGhee Mann (S. Carolina) throughout the season for every sport on Basketball Office Phone �� 602-639-6587

‹ 2 › WOMEN'S BASKETBALL 2018-19 GAME NOTES

LOPES PICKED FOURTH IN PRESEASON POLLS SCOUTING KANSAS CITY On Oct. 10, the WAC released its preseason rankings as voted on by the head coaches of Kansas City sits at an even 11-11 overall and 5-4 in Western Athletic Conference play. The the league’s nine schools. GCU was projected to finish fourth in both the coaches poll and the Roos are coming off of a 95-92 double overtime loss against California Baptist at home. UMKC media poll. has lost three straight games dating back to January 31, as the Roos dropped a conference game to New Mexico State, 90-86 and followed with a loss against UTRGV, 75-56. 2018-19 PRESEASON WOMEN’S BASKETBALL COACHES POLL Rank Team (First-place votes) Points This road game is the first for the Roos since Saturday, January 26 when they won at 1. New Mexico State (7) 62 Seattle U, 86-62. When UMKC downed the Lopes in Kansas City, 73-45, it was the first of a 2. CSU Bakersfield (2) 56 three-game win streak. 3. Seattle U 49 Ericka Mattingly leads the Roos with an average of 19.3 points per game, while three 4. GRAND CANYON 45 others UMKC players are averaging double digits. Leilah Vigil is active off the glass with 9.9 T5. Kansas City 33 boards per game and Mattingly leads the Roos with 138 assists on the season. T5. UT-Rio Grande Valley 33 7. California Baptist 18 8. Utah Valley 17 9. Chicago State 11

2018-19 PRESEASON WOMEN'S BASKETBALL MEDIA POLL Rank Team (First-place votes) Points 1. New Mexico State (9) 81 2. CSU Bakersfield 69 3. Seattle U 63 4. GRAND CANYON 46 T5. Kansas City 36 T5. Utah Valley 36 7. UT-Rio Grande Valley 30 8. California Baptist 28 9. Chicago State 18

CEPHAS, PIERA GARNER PRESEASON ALL-WAC SECOND TEAM HONORS The GCU pair of redshirt senior AJ Cephas and freshman Laura Piera earned preseason All-WAC second team honors according to a poll of the league's nine head coaches. The awards were announced on October 10 ahead of the conference's media day in Denver.

2018-19 PRESEASON ALL-WAC TEAM (COACHES POLL) First Team (Player, School) Second Team (Player, School) Alexxus Gilbert, CSU Bakersfield Vanessa Austin, CSU Bakersfield Kristen Moore, Kansas City AJ Cephas, Grand Canyon Gia Pack, New Mexico State Quynne Huggins, UT-Rio Grande Valley Brooke Salas, New Mexico State Jazmine Johnson, CSU Bakersfield Kamira Sanders, Seattle U Laura Piera, Grand Canyon

2018-19 PRESEASON ALL-WAC TEAM (MEDIA POLL) First Team (Player, School) Second Team (Player, School) Jazmine Johnson, CSU Bakersfield Vanessa Austin, CSU Bakersfield Kristen Moore, Kansas City Alexxus Gilbert, CSU Bakersfield Gia Pack, New Mexico State Quynne Huggins, UT-Rio Grande Valley Brooke Salas, New Mexico State Ines Mata Boix, Chicago State Kamira Sanders, Seattle U Lexy Ram, California Baptist

NICOLE POWELL ERA Head coach Nicole Powell begins year two of her reign at Grand Canyon, as the former WNBA star returned to her home in the valley in April 2017. Following 11 season withs various WNBA teams, Powell had a one-year stint at Gonzaga as an assistant coach before following head coach Kelly Graves to Oregon to serve as an assistant on his staff for the next three seasons. Last season, Powell led the Lopes to a 16-14 overall record and a 9-5 showing in Western Athletic Conference play, which was good for fourth place in the regular season. GCU made it to the semifinal game of the WAC tournament, but fell to CSU Bakersfield by six.

‹ 3 › POWELL PROFILE HEAD COACH NICOLE POWELL Nicole Powell was named the eighth head coach in GCU women's basketball program history on April 11, 2017 . Powell joined the Lopes after three seasons as an assistant coach with the Oregon women’s basketball team, which advanced to the Elite Eight of the NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament, before falling to defending champion UConn . Powell worked with the Ducks’ forwards and wings as well as handling game plans and recruiting . Her recruiting efforts helped Oregon secure the No . 3 recruiting class in the country in 2016 . The Ducks concluded the season ranked No . 16 in the country and a 23-14 record, including six wins over Top 25 teams . THE POWELL FILE Prior to joining the Ducks coaching staff, Powell spent the 2013-14 season with Graves at HEAD COACH Gonzaga, her first in coaching . The Phoenix, Ariz ., native retired from the WNBA following Second Season at Grand Canyon the 2014 season with the Seattle Storm, her 11th year in the league . Alma Mater: Stanford Coaching Overall Conf. After finishing her collegiate career at Stanford, Powell was the third overall pick in Record W L W L the 2004 WNBA Draft by the Charlotte Sting . In her impressive 11-year professional 2017-18 GCU 16 14 9 5 2018-19 GCU 5 15 3 7 career,Powell won a WNBA Championship with the Sacramento Monarchs (2005), was Career Totals 21 29 12 12 named the WNBA’s Most Improved Player (2005) and named a WNBA All-Star (2009) . COACHING LEDGER The forward also led the WNBA in three-point field goals made with 66 in 2005 and was 2017-19...... Grand Canyon (Head Coach) 2014-17...... Oregon (Assistant Coach) first in free-throw percentage (96 4. percent) during the 2007 campaign and during the 2013-14...... Gonzaga (Assistant Coach) 2009 season (97 .9 percent) . Powell ended her career at Stanford in 2004 as a three-time All-American and a three- time finalist for the James Naismith Player of the Year Award . She scored over 2,000 points in her four years with the Cardinal while grabbing over 1,000 rebounds . Powell guided the Cardinal to the Elite Eight as a senior in 2003-04 and was named the MVP of the NCAA Tournament’s Midwest Region . Powell began her collegiate career as the Pac- 10 Freshman of the Year (2000) and was named the Pac-10 Player of the Year in 2002 and 2004 . Powell helped Stanford accumulate a 105-26 record over her four years, as she averaged 17 .3 points, 9 .6 rebounds and 4 8. assists per game, while posting six triple- doubles in her Stanford career . In addition to her WNBA career, Powell played professionally overseas as well . She helped Fenerbahçe win two Turkish League championships in 2009 and 2010 and also played for CSKA Moscow (Russia), Perfumerias Halcon Avenida (Spain), Basket Spezia (Italy) and Wisla Kraków (Poland) . Powell also played with both the USA Junior National Team and USA Senior National Team . She won a gold medal with the junior team at the FIBA Americas Championships in the summer of 2000 and was one of three captains on the senior team that won a silver medal at the Pan American Games in the summer of 2003 . In her prep career at Mountain Pointe, Powell was a Parade Magazine First-Team All-American (2000) and named the Arizona Player of the Century by the Arizona Republic . Her senior season, she averaged 21 1. points and 15 .5 rebounds leading the Pride to a 30-2 record and a berth in the state title game . She was twice named Arizona Player of the Year and set school records with 2,478 career points and 1,760 career rebounds . Powell earned her first career win at the helm of the Grand Canyon women's basketball program on Wednesday, Nov . 22 . The Lopes defeated in-state foe Benedictine (Mesa), 67-53, to help Powell to solidify her first win as a Division I head coach .

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KENNEDI KAVITA LAURA CAMILLE TAYLOR CARLA 2 SHORS 4 AKULA 5 PIERA 10 HAILEY 11 CALDWELL 12 BALAGUE F • 6-1 G • 5-5 PG • 5-9 G • 5-9 G • 5-9 F • 6-2 Freshman Senior Freshman Sophomore Freshman Freshman Long Beach, Calif. Bhilai, India Barcelona, Spain Los Angeles, Calif. Bakersfield, Calif. Barcelona, Spain

VENLA AJ TAYLOR DA'JAH SHARON 21 VARIS 23 CEPHAS 32 HOWARD 34 DANIEL 53 MILLER G • 5-11 F • 6-0 G • 5-11 F • 6-4 C • 6-0 Freshman RS Senior Sophomore Junior Senior Vantaa, Finland Antioch, Calif. Houston, Texas Killeen, Texas Blaine, Minn.

HEAD COACH ASSISTANT COACH ASSISTANT COACH ASSISTANT COACH VIDEO COORDINATOR DIRECTOR OF OPS NICOLE POWELL NIKKI BLUE TAYLOR HIGH BRAD LANGSTON McGHEE MANN CHELSEA TURNER 2nd Season at GCU 2nd Season at GCU 2nd Season at GCU 2nd Season at GCU 1st Season at GCU 1st Season at GCU

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