Cal (7-3) finishes up its pre-Pac 12 schedule with a home night game vs Grand Canyon (5-5) on Sunday. This game will feature a matchup of two headcoaches that were both former Stanford players and assistants under Tara Vanderveer. GCU's Nicole Powell was an All-American at Stanford and is in her third season at the helm of the Antelopes. Grand Canyon is 5-2 at home and 0-3 on the road. Recently, they upset UNLV & UCSB by 2 and 1 point, respectively.
Grand Canyon University has a dozen frosh-soph players on their 15 member roster. HC Powell is playing all freshmen and sophomores except for their best player, senior post (6-4) Da'jah Daniel... Daniel averages 12.6 ppg and leads the team in rebounding w/ 9.5 boards per game. The Antelopes have a seven player rotation of players that clock 21.5 minutes per game or more. Four of the seven are foreign born imports: 2 from Spain, one from Finland + one from British Columbia, Canada.
The #2 scorer is freshman PG Jada Holland from Bishop O'Dowd. She used to wear #5 for BOD and was lightning fast. She plays 30.5 minutes per game and averages 11.5 ppg, 5.7 assists & 1.8 steals per contest. Another frosh, Tavia Rowell, from Canada is tied for third in offense with 8.2 ppg. Soph Venia Veris from Finland is deadlocked with her at 8.2 ppg. They form a deadly tandem of three point shooters, both hitting approximately 42% from deep. The back-up PG, is sophomore Laura Piera from Spain.
The other inside player is 6-2 soph, Carla Balague, from Barcelona. She averages 6.5 ppg and 5.1 rpg. The #5 offensive player is soph SG Tianna Brown w/ 6.9 ppg. Another NorCal freshman guard is Jada Moss from St Marys of Stockton. She plays 13.9 mpg & averages 2.8 ppg.
GCU is a relatively low scoring team at 62.9 ppg. They give up 63.9.
My prediction: Cal 75, Grand Canyon 45. Cal should dominate inside and clean-up on the offensive glass. The Antelopes have not faced opposition the caliber of the Bears yet this season.
GO BEARS!
Grand Canyon University has a dozen frosh-soph players on their 15 member roster. HC Powell is playing all freshmen and sophomores except for their best player, senior post (6-4) Da'jah Daniel... Daniel averages 12.6 ppg and leads the team in rebounding w/ 9.5 boards per game. The Antelopes have a seven player rotation of players that clock 21.5 minutes per game or more. Four of the seven are foreign born imports: 2 from Spain, one from Finland + one from British Columbia, Canada.
The #2 scorer is freshman PG Jada Holland from Bishop O'Dowd. She used to wear #5 for BOD and was lightning fast. She plays 30.5 minutes per game and averages 11.5 ppg, 5.7 assists & 1.8 steals per contest. Another frosh, Tavia Rowell, from Canada is tied for third in offense with 8.2 ppg. Soph Venia Veris from Finland is deadlocked with her at 8.2 ppg. They form a deadly tandem of three point shooters, both hitting approximately 42% from deep. The back-up PG, is sophomore Laura Piera from Spain.
The other inside player is 6-2 soph, Carla Balague, from Barcelona. She averages 6.5 ppg and 5.1 rpg. The #5 offensive player is soph SG Tianna Brown w/ 6.9 ppg. Another NorCal freshman guard is Jada Moss from St Marys of Stockton. She plays 13.9 mpg & averages 2.8 ppg.
GCU is a relatively low scoring team at 62.9 ppg. They give up 63.9.
My prediction: Cal 75, Grand Canyon 45. Cal should dominate inside and clean-up on the offensive glass. The Antelopes have not faced opposition the caliber of the Bears yet this season.
GO BEARS!