Sarah Woodward, Assistant Director of Athletic Communications Office: (602) Cell: (608)

Size: px

Start display at page:

Download "Sarah Woodward, Assistant Director of Athletic Communications Office: (602) Cell: (608)"

Russell Warner
5 years ago
Views:

WOMEN S BASKETBALL 2018-19 GAME NOTES Sarah Woodward, Assistant Director of Athletic Communications Office: (602) 639-7951 Cell: (608) 576-1518 E-mail: sarah.woodward@gcu.edu SATURDAY, JANUARY 5 3 P.

GRAND CANYON LOPES (2-9, 0-1 WAC).264.533 FT Pct..708 31.0 Rebounds 33.7 14.1 Assists 9.9 17.8 Turnovers 18.6 5.8 Steals 5.7 2.0 Blocks 1.

their first win in conference play. The Lopes are paced offensively by a pair of seniors in ShaRon Miller (9.9 points per game) and AJ Cephas (9.7 ppg).

Following Saturday's contest, the Lopes return home for the first time in nearly a month to face New Mexico State on home hardwood.

Head coach Nicole Powell is in her second season at the helm after finishing 16-14 overall last season and guiding the Lopes to a semifinal appearance in their first-ever WAC tournament. 2.

GCU finished fourth in conference play last season and was picked to finish fourth this season by the league's head coaches. 4.

Redshirt senior AJ Cephas and juniors Da'jah Daniel join GCU from other teams, while Kennedi Shorts, Taylor Caldwell, Laura Piera, Carla Balague and Venla Varis begin their collegiate careers with

1 WOMEN S BASKETBALL GAME NOTES Sarah Woodward, Assistant Director of Athletic Communications Office: (602) Cell: (608) sarah.woodward@gcu.edu SATURDAY, JANUARY 5 3 P.M. (MST) SEATTLE, WASH. GAME 12 - SEATTLE U TODAY S MATCHUP LOPES SU 2-9 Win-Loss Scoring Margin Scoring Avg FG Pct Point FG Pct. GRAND CANYON LOPES (2-9, 0-1 WAC) FT Pct Rebounds Assists Turnovers Steals Blocks 1.9 V S SEATTLE U REDHAWKS (0-14, 0-1 WAC) The Grand Canyon women's basketball team looks to break a seven-game losing streak on Saturday at Seattle U, as the Lopes and the Redhawks both search for their first win in conference play. The Lopes are paced offensively by a pair of seniors in ShaRon Miller (9.9 points per game) and AJ Cephas (9.7 ppg). Freshman Laura Piera holds a scoring average of 9.2 ppg and leads the Lopes with 4.9 assists per outing. Following Saturday's contest, the Lopes return home for the first time in nearly a month to face New Mexico State on home hardwood. PROBABLE STARTING FIVE 4 KAVITA AKULA 5 LAURA PIERA 11 TAYLOR CALDWELL GCU QUICK FIVE 1. Head coach Nicole Powell is in her second season at the helm after finishing overall last season and guiding the Lopes to a semifinal appearance in their first-ever WAC tournament. 2. The pair of newcomers in redshirt senior AJ Cephas and freshman Laura Piera earned preseason All-WAC honors on the second team. 3. GCU finished fourth in conference play last season and was picked to finish fourth this season by the league's head coaches. 4. The Lopes welcome seven new players this season, including two transfers and five freshman. Redshirt senior AJ Cephas and juniors Da'jah Daniel join GCU from other teams, while Kennedi Shorts, Taylor Caldwell, Laura Piera, Carla Balague and Venla Varis begin their collegiate careers with the Lopes. 5. GCU hosted a four-game tournament at home over Thanksgiving with LIU Brooklyn, Indiana State and UC Irvine. 23 AJ CEPHAS 53 SHARON MILLER NO. PLAYER POS. GP/GS PPG RPG APG SPG BPG FG% FT% 4 Kavita Akula G 11/ Laura Piera PG 10/ Taylor Caldwell G 10/ AJ Cephas F 7/ ShaRon Miller C 11/ SCHEDULE & RECORD OVERALL RECORD: 2-9 WAC: 0-1 Non-Conference: 2-8 Home: 2-3 Away: 0-6 Neutral: 0-0 NOVEMBER All times listed in MT 5 Benedictine (Exhib.) W, Incarnate Word W, East Carolina L, UNC-Wilmington L, Indiana State L, (2OT) 24 LIU Brooklyn W, (OT) DECEMBER 2 UC Santa Barbara L, Montana L, Portland State L, Long Beach State L, Santa Clara L, JANUARY 3 Utah Valley* L, Seattle U* 3 p.m. 10 New Mexico State* 6 p.m. 12 UTRGV* 2 p.m. 17 Chicago State* 6 p.m. 19 Kansas City* 1 p.m. 26 California Baptist* 2 p.m. FEBRUARY 2 CSU Bakersfield* 2 p.m. 7 UTRGV* 6 p.m. 9 New Mexico State* 2 p.m. 14 Kansas City* 6 p.m. 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 WAC Tournament Las Vegas, Nev. * Denotes WAC games Home games in bold 1

QUICK FACTS / ROSTERS / MEDIA INFO WOMEN S BASKETBALL COMMUNICATIONS CONTACT WBB Contact... Sarah Woodward Office Phone.... 602-639-7951 Cell Phone.... 608-576-1518 Email.. sarah.woodward@gcu.

2 QUICK FACTS / ROSTERS / MEDIA INFO WOMEN S BASKETBALL COMMUNICATIONS CONTACT WBB Contact... Sarah Woodward Office Phone Cell Phone sarah.woodward@gcu.edu GRAND CANYON UNIVERSITY INFORMATION School Grand Canyon University Location Phoenix, Ariz. Founded Enrollment ,500 President Brian Mueller Vice President of Athletics....Mike Vaught Faculty Representative.... Claude Pensis Affiliation NCAA Division I Nickname Lopes Mascot Thunder Colors Purple, Black & White Conference..Western Athletic Conference (WAC) Athletics Website:... MEDIA INFORMATION The Grand Canyon Athletics Department is served by a communications office staff that works diligently to promote the individual and team accomplishments of studentathletes, 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 reasonable requests. Credentials All members of the office follow the guidelines set forth by the NCAA and the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) in governing the issuance of credentials. All credential requests should be submitted to the sport contacts. Releases, game notes and advisories are ed to media that cover GCU on a regular basis. Media wishing to be added to the list for women s basketball should contact sarah.woodward@gcu.edu. Online Updated bios, notes, rosters, schedules, statistics, quotes, etc., will be available throughout the season for every sport on GRAND CANYON NUMERIC ROSTER No. Name Pos. HT YR Hometown (Previous School) 2..Kennedi Shorts F Fr Long Beach, Calif. (Long Beach Poly) 4..Kavita Akula G Sr Bhilai, India (Garden City CC) 5..Laura Piera G Fr Barcelona, Spain (Basket Almeda) 10..Camille Hailey G So Los Angeles, Calif. (Serra) 11..Taylor Caldwell G Fr Bakersfield, Calif. (Bakersfield) 12..Carla Balague F Fr Barcelona, Spain (Femeni Sant Adria) 14..Venla Varis G Fr.... Vantaa, Finland (Makelanrinteen Senior High) 23..AJ Cephas F R-Sr Antioch, Calif. (Nevada/Deer Valley) 32..Taylor Howard G R-Fr Houston, Texas (Hightower) 34..Da'jah Daniel F Jr... Killeen, Texas (Trinity Valley CC/Harker Heights) 53..ShaRon Miller C Sr Blaine, Minn. (Northland CC/Blaine) GRAND CANYON ALPHABETICAL ROSTER No. Name Pos. HT YR Hometown (Previous School) 4..Kavita Akula G Sr Bhilai, India (Garden City CC) 12..Carla Balague F Fr Barcelona, Spain (Femeni Sant Adria) 11..Taylor Caldwell G Fr Bakersfield, Calif. (Bakersfield) 23..AJ Cephas F R-Sr Antioch, Calif. (Nevada/Deer Valley) 34..Da'jah Daniel F Jr... Killeen, Texas (Trinity Valley CC/Harker Heights) 10..Camille Hailey G So Los Angeles, Calif. (Serra) 32..Taylor Howard G R-Fr Houston, Texas (Hightower) 53..ShaRon Miller C Sr Blaine, Minn. (Northland CC/Blaine) 5..Laura Piera G Fr Barcelona, Spain (Basket Almeda) 2..Kennedi Shorts F Fr Long Beach, Calif. (Long Beach Poly) 14..Venla Varis G Fr.... Vantaa, Finland (Makelanrinteen Senior High) GRAND CANYON UNIVERSITY ARENA Opened Sept. 1, 2011 Capacity ,000 Arena Attendance Record ,413(1/9/16) BASKETBALL STAFF Head Coach Nicole Powell (2nd Season) Alama Mater Stanford Grand Canyon Record (.439) WAC Record (.600) Overall Record (.439) Assistant Coach Nikki Blue (UCLA) Assistant Coach..... Brad Langston (San Jose St.) Assistant Coach Taylor High (Kansas) Director of Ops Chelsea Turner (Cameron) Video Coordinator..... McGhee Mann (S. Carolina) Basketball Office Phone PROGRAM HISTORY First Year of Basketball at GCU All-Time Record (.466) All-Time Division I Record (.527) All-Time WAC Record (reg. season) (.576) All-Time WAC Tournament Record (.500) PRONUNCIATION GUIDE Kavita Akula Kuh-vee-tuh Uh-coo-luh Carla Balague Bal-UH-gay AJ Cephas SEE-fas Da'jah Daniel Day-JUH Camille Hailey Cuh-meal ShaRon Miller SHAY-ron Venla Varis V-ARE-us 2

3 WOMEN'S BASKETBALL GAME NOTES LOPES PICKED FOURTH IN PRESEASON POLLS On Oct. 10, the WAC released its preseason rankings as voted on by the head coaches of the league s nine schools. GCU was projected to finish fourth in both the coaches poll and the media poll PRESEASON WOMEN S BASKETBALL COACHES POLL Rank Team (First-place votes) Points 1. New Mexico State (7) CSU Bakersfield (2) Seattle U GRAND CANYON 45 T5. Kansas City 33 T5. UT-Rio Grande Valley California Baptist Utah Valley Chicago State 11 SCOUTING SEATTLE U Seattle U is winless on the season so far after finishing 0-13 in non-conference play and falling to CSU Bakersfield in the conference opener on Thursday, The Redhawks have faced quality opponents, including UC Irvine, Nevada, Cal Poly, UC Davis, Pepperdine, Washington, Utah, Portland State, Hawaii, Arizona, Northern Arizona and Cal State Fullerton. Last season, Seattle U was overall and 9-5 in conference play. The Lopes downed SU in Phoenix, 74-63, in the 2018 WAC opener and went on to defeat the Redhawks again on the road, 64-57, in February. Seattle U earned an automatic bid to the 2018 NCAA Tournament after going 3-0 in the WAC Tournament last March. The Redhawks opened the tournament with a win over Kansas City, SU continued its run with a dominant win over top-seeded New Mexico State and closed out the tournament with a three-point victory over CSU Bakersfield (57-54). The Redhawks played at Oregon to open the NCAA Tournament and fell, 88-45, to end the season PRESEASON WOMEN'S BASKETBALL MEDIA POLL Rank Team (First-place votes) Points 1. New Mexico State (9) CSU Bakersfield Seattle U GRAND CANYON 46 T5. Kansas City 36 T5. Utah Valley UT-Rio Grande Valley California Baptist 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 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 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 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 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

4 THE POWELL FILE HEAD COACH Second Season at Grand Canyon Alma Mater: Stanford Coaching Overall Conf. Record W L W L GCU GCU Career Totals COACHING LEDGER Grand Canyon (Head Coach) Oregon (Assistant Coach) Gonzaga (Assistant Coach) POWELL PROFILE HEAD COACH NICOLE POWELL Nicole Powell was named the eighth head coach in GCU women's basketball program history on April 11, 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 The Ducks concluded the season ranked No. 16 in the country and a record, including six wins over Top 25 teams. Prior to joining the Ducks coaching staff, Powell spent the season with Graves at Gonzaga, her first in coaching. The Phoenix, Ariz., native retired from the WNBA following the 2014 season with the Seattle Storm, her 11th year in the league. After finishing her collegiate career at Stanford, Powell was the third overall pick in the 2004 WNBA Draft by the Charlotte Sting. In her impressive 11-year professional career, Powell won a WNBA Championship with the Sacramento Monarchs (2005), was named the WNBA s Most Improved Player (2005) and named a WNBA All-Star (2009). The forward also led the WNBA in three-point field goals made with 66 in 2005 and was first in free-throw percentage (96.4 percent) during the 2007 campaign and during the 2009 season (97.9 percent). Powell ended her career at Stanford in 2004 as a three-time All-American and a threetime 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 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 Powell helped Stanford accumulate a record over her four years, as she averaged 17.3 points, 9.6 rebounds and 4.8 assists per game, while posting six tripledoubles 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 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. 4

5 TV / RADIO ROSTER 2 KENNEDI SHORS F 6-1 Freshman Long Beach, Calif. 21 VENLA VARIS G 5-11 Freshman Vantaa, Finland 4 KAVITA AKULA G 5-5 Senior Bhilai, India 23 AJCEPHAS F 6-0 RS Senior Antioch, Calif CAMILLE HAILEY LAURA PIERA PG 5-9 Freshman Barcelona, Spain G 5-9 Sophomore Los Angeles, Calif. 32 TAYLOR HOWARD 34 DA'JAH DANIEL G 5-11 Sophomore Houston, Texas F 6-4 Junior Killeen, Texas 11 TAYLOR CALDWELL G 5-9 Freshman Bakersfield, Calif. 12 CARLA BALAGUE F 6-2 Freshman Barcelona, Spain 53 SHARON MILLER C 6-0 Senior Blaine, Minn. HEAD COACH NICOLE POWELL ASSISTANT COACH NIKKI BLUE ASSISTANT COACH TAYLOR HIGH ASSISTANT COACH BRAD LANGSTON VIDEO COORDINATOR McGHEE MANN DIRECTOR OF OPS 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 5

6 TEAM STATS 6

7 TEAM STATS 7

8 NON-CONFERENCE TEAM STATS 8

9 9

10 10

11 11

12 12

13 13

14 14

15 15

16 16

17 17

18 18

19 19

UNC WILMINGTON SEAHAWKS (2-1, 0-0 CAA)

UNC WILMINGTON SEAHAWKS (2-1, 0-0 CAA) WOMEN S BASKETBALL 2018-19 GAME NOTES Sarah Woodward, Assistant Director of Athletic Communications Office: (602) 639-7951 Cell: (608) 576-1518 E-mail: sarah.woodward@gcu.edu SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 17 11 A.M.