by Grand Canyon won its third straight game and evened its Western Athletic Conference mark to 3-3 with a 76-51 victory over Chicago State at Jones Convocation Center in Chicago Saturday.
GCU is 9-10 overall. Chicago State dropped to 3-16 and 1-5. The Lopes are 3-0 all-time against Chicago State.
“I really liked our ‘team basketball’ today,” said coach Trent May. “We shared the ball well, played together on the defensive end, rebounded well and shot the ball with confidence. It is a good, earned road win.”
Freshman Casey Rarrick continued her strong road trip, getting her first start and leading the Lopes with 20 points. Off the bench in Thursday’s road win at Kansas City, Rarrick scored a career-high 22, the most points by a Lope this season. She set a new career-high in three-pointers Saturday, hitting 6-of-10. As a team, GCU hit 13-of-21 (.619) from beyond the arc. August Touchard went 4-of-5 from long range and had 14 points. Madison Craig (Navajo Nation), off the bench, hit 3-of-4 from three-point range and scored 12 points.
Grand Canyon outscored Chicago State 43-23 in the second half. In the final 20 minutes, GCU hit 64 percent (16-of-25), including 70 percent (7-of-10) from three-point range. For the game, the Lopes hit 50.9 percent of their field-goal attempts.
Chicago State led 15-11 with 11:42 remaining in the first half. The Lopes tied the game, 20-20, on a Rarrick trey, and took the lead for good on a 5-0 run, started by a successful jumper in the paint from Astrea Reed.
Cheyenne Hedrington added seven rebounds, six points and a game-high three steals. Courtney Hayes had seven rebounds, four assists and four points. Reed finished with eight points.
The Lopes got 24 points from their bench. Tori Morris had five points and three rebounds in nine minutes. Devyn Edwards had four points and two boards in nine minutes and frosh Mikaehla Connor added three points and two rebounds.
The Antelopes play their next three WAC games at home, beginning with a 7 p.m. Feb. 5 contest with Seattle U at GCU Arena.
Fans unable to attend Thursday’s game can follow all the action with live links available at www.gculopes.com.
