ARLINGTON, Texas – The UT Arlington women's basketball team (14-11, 9-5 WAC) fell to Grand Canyon (26-2, 13-0 WAC) on Thursday evening 72-59 inside the College Park Center.
The third quarter was the turning point of the game with the Lopes putting up 34 points compared to the Lady Mavs 17 in the quarter that turned a four-point GCU lead at the half into a 21-point lead going into the fourth quarter.
The Lady Mavs had three players score in double figures, led by Avery Brittingham who had 11 points, six rebounds, Three blocks, two steals and an assist in 30 minutes of action. Taliyah Clark finished with 11 points, four assists and a rebound in 30 minutes while Koi Love finished with 11 points and four rebounds in 20 minutes. Zoe Nelson finished with a team high eight rebounds while Nya Threatt finished with a team high three steals and four assists to go along with eight points.
It was a defensive slugfest a majority of the game between the two, with both the Lady Mavs and Lopes forcing each other into 22 turnovers. GCU turned that into 24 points while the Lady Mavs managed to get 15 points out of theirs. UTA now falls to 0-3 in games where they have the same number of turnovers as their opponent while falling to five hundred on Thursday games, 5-5.
GAME FLOW
UTA started off strong, putting together a 14-13 lead heading into the second quarter with most of their first quarter damage coming in the paint, scoring eight of its 14 points close to the basket.
Through two quarter of play the Lady Mavs were locked into a battle with Grand Canyon. UTA entered the locker room down four, 32-28 despite shooting better from the floor for the half, 40 percent compared to the Lopes 39 percent. Both teams went 8-for-11 from the free throw line with the difference in the half being from behind the arc with the Lady Mavs going 0-for-8 while GCU went 2-for-9 from deep. GCU had 19 rebounds and nine steals in the first while the Lady Mavs had 14 boards and five steals.
No team could really get any clear separation, with both teams going on no longer then a 6-0 run and neither team going up more than six points with five lead changes.
Coming out the locker room, the Lopes went on 6-0 at the seven-minute mark to give them their largest lead of the game at the time at eight to force UTA to call a time out. They pushed it to their largest run of the game, a 13-0 run, before the Lady Mavs could stop the bleeding on a pair of Clark free throws to make it 48-35. The Lopes would continue to pour it on, every time UTA responded, GCU had an answer right back to explode for 34 points in the third to give them their largest lead of the game at 21 points, 66-45.
The Lady Mavs would not go quietly into the night, starting the fourth quarter on a 9-2 run to pull within 14, 68-54. UTA managed to cut the deficit down to 12 in the quarter due to holding the Lopes to six total points in the quarter, but could not pull any closer, falling 72-59.
GAME NOTES
- This is the third time this season the Lady Mavs have finished with the same number of turnovers as their opponent, falling to 0-3 in those games.
- UTA falls to 1-5 all-time against the Lopes and 0-3 inside the College Park Center.
- This is the first loss this season in the CPC for the Lady Mavs.
- The six points for GCU in the fourth quarter is the lowest point total the Lady Mavs have held an opponent to in a quarter this season and the 13th time this season they've held an opponent to single digits in a quarter.
- UTA is on a four-game losing streak, their longest skid of the season.
NEXT UP
The Lady Mavs hit the road for their final away game of the regular season, traveling to Abilene Christian to battle the Wildcats this Saturday, March 1, inside the Moody Coliseum at 1 p.m.
– #BuckEm –
FOLLOW ALONG
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