SPOKANE, Washington -
The West Virginia University women’s basketball team concludes its three-day trip to Spokane, Washington, with an 11 p.m. ET/8 p.m. PT tipoff against Grand Canyon on Tuesday in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame Women’s Challenge.
A free video stream will be provided at GoZags.com. Jeff Culhane and Liz Repella will call the action on the Mountaineer Sports Network from IMG. Fans can listen to the contest on various affiliates across the state, online at WVUsports.com or by using the TuneIn Radio app.
West Virginia (2-2) is coming off a heartbreaking 78-67 overtime loss to USC on Monday. For the second consecutive game, the Mountaineers fought back from a double-digit deficit and took a brief lead in the final minutes of regulation. USC outscored WVU 14-3 in overtime to improve to 4-0 on the season.
Grand Canyon (2-3) and West Virginia will meet for the first time on Tuesday. WVU looks to snap an eight game losing road skid during the regular season. The Mountaineer’s last victory away from the WVU Coliseum in the regular season came at No. 21 Oklahoma State (61-49) on Jan. 7, 2015.
The Lopes dropped their first two games in the tournament to USC (75-44) on Sunday and Gonzaga (70-44) on Monday. GCU has victories over Oral Roberts (66-64) and Western State (77-40).
Dana Jones leads the Lopes with 12.0 points per contest and is averaging 5.6 rebounds. Cheyenne Hedrington is GCU’s top rebounder, corralling 8.2 boards per contest. GCU is shooting 32.7 percent (96-of-294) from the field and 20.0 percent (18-of-90) at three-point range.
Bria Holmes netted a season-high 27 points in Monday’s loss to USC. Holmes now has 1,490 career points, which puts her No. 13 on WVU’s all-time scoring ledger. The New Haven, Connecticut, native needs just 15 points to climb to the No. 10 spot, currently held by Jenny Hillen (1,504). Holmes leads West Virginia with 19.5 points and 3.5 assists per game.
Lanay Montgomery has registered four blocks in all four games this season. She has blocked three or more shots in six consecutive games dating back to last season. Montgomery’s 7.5 rebounds per game leads the Mountaineers.
Coach Mike Carey is looking for his 300th career win at the helm of the Mountaineer women’s basketball program. Carey is three victories away from surpassing Kittie Blakemore (301) as the program’s all-time wins leader.
West Virginia concludes the Hall of Fame Challenge on Sunday, Nov. 29, when the Mountaineers face Yale in a 4 p.m. tipoff at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut.
