CEDAR CITY, Utah - The Southern Utah University women's basketball team fell to Grand Canyon 77-61 on Saturday afternoon at the America First Event Center. The Thunderbirds move to 6-16 on the season and 4-9 in Western Athletic Conference play, while the Lopes improve to 20-4 and 12-1 in conference play.
HEAD COACH TRACY MASON SAYS
"We have to learn from this one and move on to the next. I just think we're at a point where we have to continue to get better."
T-BIRD TIDBITS
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Ashley Banks led the way for Southern Utah with a season-high 15 points on 6-7 shooting from the field to go along with a team-best nine rebounds.
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Shiho Isono provided a spark off the bench, racking up 10 points and three assists.
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Samantha Johnston dished out a team-high five assists while adding five points and four rebounds.
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All eight T-Birds to enter the game registered a field goal.
GAME RECAP
First Half
Grand Canyon jumped out to an 8-0 lead to start the game. Then, Ashley Banks added a pair of buckets to help fuel a 5-0 Thunderbirds run to make the score 8-5 with 3:51 on the clock. The Lopes scored the next six points to take a 14-5 advantage at the end of the first period.
The two squads traded buckets early in the second quarter as the Lopes extended their lead to 27-16 with 3:44 left in the half. Shiho Isono poured in five points to spark a 7-2 sprint for the Thunderbirds to get within six, 29-23, late in the quarter. GCU held a 32-23 lead at the break.
Second Half
The third quarter was a back-and-forth affair. Southern Utah scored seven of the next 11 points to trim GCU's advantage to 36-30 with 6:42 on the clock. After the Lopes were able to push their lead back to double-digits (43-32), the 'Birds mounted a 12-6 stretch to get within five, 49-44, with 41 seconds remaining in the third. However, that was as close as SUU would get as Grand Canyon outscored the Thunderbirds 28-17 the rest of the way to claim a 77-61 victory.
NOTABLE PLAYS
UP NEXT
The Thunderbirds will head to Washington to take on Seattle University on Thursday, Feb. 15. The game is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. MT.
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