The Grand Canyon women's basketball team went wire to wire with Big Sky opponent Idaho on Sunday, ultimately falling 81-78 in overtime after a 3-point shot by senior forward Dominique Phillips came after the buzzer.
The Lopes moved to 8-2 heading into Wednesday's last nonconference game of the season at UC Irvine. The loss to Idaho (4-6) also broke a three-game winning streak.
GCU trailed 7-0 and did not score its first basket until the 6:44 mark of the first quarter. Back-to-back buckets put GCU within two and the Lopes eventually tied the game up at 12-12 to end the first quarter.
The combination of junior guard Sydney Palma, sophomore guard Naudia Evans and Phillips – all whom scored in double figures – paced the Lopes in the second quarter to outscore Idaho 23-13 and lead 35-25 at the break. Three of GCU's eight 3-pointers were made in the second quarter, when Evans also made three free throws off a fouled 3-point attempt.
Idaho cut into the Lopes' lead quickly in the third quarter, making it a 39-38 game just 2 1/2 minutes into the half. The Vandals tied the score at 42-42 before GCU ended the final 4:15 on a 12-5 run to lead 54-47 going into the fourth.
GCU kept its lead early through the fourth quarter and eventually grew the lead to 69-61 with 1:33 left. The Vandals stormed back with 11 points in the final 1:17 of regulation with nine of the points coming on 3-pointers. As the Lopes led 72-66 with 47 seconds left, Idaho's Tiana Johnson converted a 3-pointer as she was fouled at the top of the arch. Johnson missed her free throw, but a GCU turnover gave Idaho one more opportunity to tie it up with no timeouts and nine seconds left. Sydney Ganey connected on a 3 in nearly the same spot as Johnson with 0.3 seconds left to put GCU in its first overtime this season.
Idaho led 79-74 before GCU cut the lead to 79-78 with two minutes remaining. The score stayed the same all the way until the eight-second mark, when Idaho converted two free throws to lead 81-78. A jump ball underneath the basket forced a GCU inbound with one second to go. Phillips received an inbound pass at the 3-point line, pumped fake past the outstretched defender and knocked in the 3, but her fingers were still on the ball when time expired.
Palma tied a game high with 20 points while adding four rebounds and three assists. It is the second game this season that the Anthem, Arizona, product has reached the 20-point threshold. Evans knocked down a pair of 3-pointers and finished with 18 points, four rebounds and five assists while Phillips added 15 points and five rebounds. Graduate forward Evan Zars scored 10 points in her first game after reaching 1,000 points last weekend vs. Columbia (Mo.) and collected a team-high nine rebounds.
The Lopes conclude nonconference play on Wednesday at UC Irvine at 3 p.m. (Phoenix time). GCU returns after the Christmas break for the first WAC game of the season at Utah Valley on Dec. 29 with its next home game on Dec. 31 vs. California Baptist.
Original source can be found here.
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