Women's Basketball Team Hosts Kansas City in the First of Two-Straight Home Games Starting 5 Benedictine (Exhib.) W, 72-60 Thursday Night
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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] GRAND CANYON KANSAS CITY 2018-19 SCHEDULE & RECORD LOPES V ROOS (5-15, 3-7 WAC) S (11-11, 5-4 WAC) OVERALL RECORD: 5-15 WAC: 3-7 | Non-Conference: 2-8 THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 14 | 6 P.M. (MST) | PHOENIX, ARIZ. Home: 4-5 | Away: 1-10 | Neutral: 0-0 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 senior AJ Cephas and juniors Da'jah Daniel join GCU 33.3 Rebounds 39.4 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.