Pair of double-doubles guide Lopes to 7th straight win

Wednesday, December 18

Phoenix, Ariz.

2:30 p.m.

Grand Canyon

9-2,0-0WAC

Wright State

2-9,0-3Horizon

Wright St.

Grand Canyon

Photo by: David Kadlubowski

Pair of double-doubles guide Lopes to 7th straight win

12/18/2024 5:42:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score Photo Gallery

L. Erikstrup, San Antonio combine for 37 points, 20 rebounds, 12 assists

By: Nick Macdonald

Grand Canyon stayed perfect at home and in December by extending its winning streak to seven with an 82-69 victory over Wright State on Wednesday, the opening day of the GCU Women's Basketball Have Fayth Christmas Classic.

News and Highlights

Graduate forward Laura Erikstrup (game-high 20 points, 14 rebounds) and senior guard Trinity San Anotnio (17 points, 10 assists) notched double-doubles for GCU.
Four Lopes scored in double figures for the third consecutive game. Joining Erikstrup and San Antonio were graduate forward Tiarra Brown (18 points) and senior guard Alyssa Durazo-Frescas (12 points).
It was the third straight game and fifth time this season that GCU shot at least 50% from the floor. After a 40% clip in the first quarter, the Lopes shot 60% or better the rest of the way for a 57% total.
The Lopes dished out 24 assists, one shy of a season best. Brown, San Antonio and senior Ale'Jah Douglas combined for 18.

For the first time since Dec. 5 at Arizona, GCU (9-2) trailed at the end of the first quarter with Wright State (2-9) leading 20-18. Three of the Raiders' eight 3-pointers came in the first quarter, when a pair came near the trail end of the quarter to swing momentum.

A back-and-forth second quarter quickly turned into a showcase for San Antonio and Brown, who combined for 10 of the final 12 points of the half to put GCU ahead 40-31 through 20 minutes.

A 9-0 run early in the third put the Lopes ahead by 19, their largest lead of the afternoon, with great shooting from inside and outside in the third quarter.

While down double digits for most of the second half, the Raiders kept making noise with three straight 3s in the beginning of the fourth quarter, forcing Lopes head coach Molly Miller to call timeout and assess the game plan. But with five to six scoring weapons on any given night, GCU controlled the pace behind Brown, San Antonio and Erikstrup over the final five minutes for a 13-point victory and its seventh victory in a row.

"I wish you could see the work that Laura puts in every day," Miller said. "If she had more than two feet, all those feet would be in. She is totally bought in to the system and wants to do well. She averaged 11 minutes last year but has stuck with it, played hard and is playing some of her best basketball."

Durazo-Frescas knocked down four 3s, her eighth game with three or more 3s made. She entered the afternoon sixth in the country in 3-pointers made per game (3.5).

Erikstrup, who won WAC Player of the Week earlier this week, has scored 42 points and grabbed 20 rebounds in her last two games and extended her career-best double-digit scoring streak to seven contests.

"I owe a lot of my success to coach Lopez," Erikstrup said of assistant coach Ashleigh Lopez. "She gets in the gym with me and works on different shots and different ways to improve my mid-range to be an overall better player. And, obviously, my teammates put me in this position, so I owe it to them too."

The Lopes are one of 27 teams in the nation to be undefeated at home with at least seven games played in their home arena. Of those 27, four reside outside of the "power conferences" – GCU, Portland, Boise State and Duquesne.

"We won't pick and choose when we need to have energy," Miller said. "Coming off a back-to-back, we need to have a bounce in our step and that is something we have preached since Day 1. To be a really, really great team you have to have consistency, and the consistency for us is turning over the scout and really digging in for the quick turnaround."

GCU resumes the Have Fayth Christmas Classic on Thursday with a 2:30 p.m. tipoff vs. Florida Atlantic (7-4). Wright State takes on Georgia Southern in the first game at noon in Global Credit Union Arena.