ABILENE – Grand Canyon used a strong inside game in the third quarter and took a 64-55 win at Abilene Christian on Thursday.
GCU made penetrating drives and passes into the paint for easy baskets and shot 53 percent from the field in the third quarter. The Lopes won the third quarter 20-8 while ACU had played evenly or outscored GCU in the other three.
"We knew the keys to the game pretty well and for probably 30 minutes we played pretty well," said ACU Head Coach
Julie Goodenough. "Not the third quarter through. We just were not clear on defensive assignments. We had some defensive lapses that were pretty costly for us. We've got to play a complete game. We have to play 40 minutes against a really good team like Grand Canyon."
The first half saw the Wildcats shoot nearly 50 percent from the field and the Cats took a 32-30 lead into halftime.
ACU struggled offensively in the second half and finished the night with 20 turnovers.
Payton Hull had 19 points and
Aspen Thornton added 15 to lead ACU
"Proud of the way Aspen came in and played," said Goodenough. "She's been out for a while and played some heavy minutes for us today. I thought she played really tough, you know, handling the basketball under pretty good pressure most of the night."
The teams were evenly matched in the rebound category at 32-32 with
Bella Earle grabbing a team-high six. Hull led the team with four steals.
ACU returns to the court in Moody Coliseum on Saturday, hosting California Baptist at 1 p.m.
