No. 13 Women's Basketball Drops Disney Classic Finale to No. 1 Ashland

Sunday, November 11

Anaheim, CA

5:00 PM

Grand Canyon

1-2

#1 Ashland

3-0

Ashland University

Grand Canyon

Asha McDonnell was the leading scorer for GCU

No. 13 Women's Basketball Drops Disney Classic Finale to No. 1 Ashland

11/11/2012 9:24:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

Return home for GCU Tip-Off Classic this weekend

The No. 13 Grand Canyon University women’s basketball team lost, 83-55, tonight to top-ranked Ashland University in their final contest as part of the Disney Classic in Anaheim, Calif. The Antelopes will return home from the season-opening tournament with a 1-2 record, while Ashland improved to 3-0.

The ‘Lopes shot 33.8 percent from the field (22-for-65) and drained seven of eight free throw attempts (90 percent). Hot-shooting Ashland sported a 52.5 field goal percentage (32-for-61), including a 45.5 percentage from behind the arc (10-for-22).

GCU held the advantage in points in the paint, 32-18, and saw 31 bench points added to the total score.

“I have a huge amount of respect for Ashland’s program and how well they play together,” said head coach Trent May. They do a lot of things really well. We wanted to compete, get better and win tonight, but if we can learn from this and watch great teams do what they do, then we can build from that. We have a lot of experienced players on the team, but they are so new together. Tonight was a good building block for us.”

GCU was led by Asha McDonnell with 12 points, while Chigozie Ekweozor added eight. Ekweozor, along with Judy Jones, led the squad with five rebounds apiece.

“What I want to do as a coach is aspire to get better each and every game,” added May. “We learned a lot tonight and I don’t look at this as a bad experience. I saw a lot of growth. I want to keep this experience in my mind and make us better. I am excited to watch our team grow and sometimes these kinds of games are good for teams.”

The game was tied at 4-4 early before Ashland used a 9-0 run to take a 13-4 lead with 14:17 on the clock. The ‘Lopes would close within five points, but Ashland held them at bay as they stretched their advantage to 20 points, 36-16, with just over five minutes to play. Ashland allowed just three more points by GCU for the remainder of the half and took a 43-19 lead into the locker room.

Ashland opened the second half with an 8-2 run and saw their largest lead of the game at 33 points, when they led 79-45 with 3:11 remaining in the game. The two teams then traded baskets until the final buzzer rang, although GCU outscored Ashland 10-4 in that time.

The ‘Lopes will next be in action when they host the GCU Tip-Off Classic on Nov. 16 and 17 in GCU Arena. GCU will face Eastern New Mexico on Friday and Humboldt State on Saturday, with game times slated for 6 p.m. each day. There will also be neutral site games at 4 p.m. both days.

“This was a longer trip, and there are a lot nuances that go on with that,” said May. “Many of these experiences along the way will help build team chemistry. We saw that there are some very good teams out there. Being on this trip will do a lot for us as we look to play at home next week.”

AU 83, GCU 55