PHOENIX – The Utah Valley University women's basketball team suffered a 64-54 defeat at Grand Canyon University on Thursday night in GCU Arena.
 
The Wolverines (14-14, 8-7) got 14 points from Jordan Holland and 10 from Eve Braslis, but the Lopes (7-18, 5-10) had 10 made 3-pointers combined from Kavita Akula and Venla Varis. Akula made six 3-pointers for Grand Canyon and finished with a game-high 18. All six makes came in her first eight attempts as she finished 6-for-10. Varis was 4-for-8 from beyond the arc and finished with 14.
 
Grand Canyon built a first-quarter lead behind 57.1 percent shooting. Varis hit two 3-pointers in the quarter including one with just under a minute left that gave the Lopes a 21-12 lead. With GCU holding the ball for a final look at the end of the first, Holland drew a charge and Braslis scored just before the buzzer to make it 21-14 after 10 minutes.
 
Braslis' bucket started a run of 15-3 that was capped by another bucket from the Australian freshman with 1:32 until halftime. The shot gave Utah Valley a 27-24 lead and Braslis a team-high six points in the opening half. Varis, who led all scorers with 11 in the half, scored for GCU with 32 seconds left to make it 27-26 at the break.
 
After their hot opening quarter, Grand Canyon was limited to just 2-of-11 (18.2 percent) in the second as the Wolverines outscored the Lopes 13-5 in the quarter.
 
Grand Canyon scored eight straight out of the half, with Akula hitting consecutive 3-pointers, to led 34-27 before Alexis Cortez stopped that run with bucket down low. The Lopes hit six of their first nine attempts in the third and Akula hit a deep three late in the quarter to make it 43-33 entering the fourth. The Wolverines were outscored 17-6 in third.
 
Holland and Josie Williams scored quickly early in the fourth the trim the deficit to six, but Akula and Varis continued to hit from distance, both knocking down treys to push the lead back to 12, 49-37. Akula made five straight attempts from three during the second half for GCU.
 
Cortez finished with seven points and nine rebounds for UVU while Maria Carvalho scored seven points and dished out six assists. Da'jah Daniel grabbed a game-high 12 rebounds for Grand Canyon, who had a 33-31 edge on the glass.
 
The Wolverines will play their final regular season game on Saturday at 1 p.m. PT/2 p.m. MT at CSU Bakersfield. The WAC Tournament begins next Wednesday in Las Vegas at the Orleans Arena.