3-point queen: Durazo-Frescas sets record in rout

Friday, December 27

Phoenix, Ariz.

6 p.m.

Grand Canyon

12-2,0-0WAC

108

Park Gilbert

0-4

Park (AZ)

Grand Canyon

108

Photo by: Slate Mitchell

12/27/2024 9:17:00 PM | Women's Basketball

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GCU senior guard makes 9 3-pointers in Lopes' 10th straight win

By: Nick Macdonald

The top 3-point shooter in the country just made another splash in the Grand Canyon record books.

Lopes senior guard Alyssa Durazo-Frescas entered Friday night's home game seven shy of TCU's Madison Conner for most 3-pointers made this season. Durazo-Frescas exited stage left as the nation's top 3-point scorer and GCU's new record holder for 3-pointers made in a game after notching nine for a career-high 27 points. Her shooting highlighted a 108-44 win against Park Gilbert at Global Credit Union Arena.

"First and foremost, I would like to thank my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, my family and my teammates — I owe it all to them," Durazo-Frescas said. "They were feeding me the ball, they wanted me to get the record, and I am so happy my family was here to witness this.

"You can't think about your misses or your makes. You can't think about anything really. You just have to catch the ball and shoot it. Sometimes, when I shoot the ball too slow, I think I am going to miss it, so just catching the ball with confidence, something my teammates have in me, is all I need."

Durazo-Frescas led the Lopes in points, followed by graduate forwards Laura Erikstrup (24 points) and Nneka Obaizor (23). The GCU defense forced 20-plus turnovers for the seventh time this season to extend the Lopes' Division I-era record winning streak to 10.

With career-best 47.1% accuracy this season, Durazo-Frescas has made a nation-leading 57 shots from 3-point range. On Friday night, the Newport Beach, California, native went 9 for 16 on 3s.

"She was here at 9:30 p.m. on Christmas Day shooting," GCU head coach Molly Miller said of Durazo-Frescas. "There is not a more deserving player or a harder worker than No. 12, and I am so proud of her. She deserves to go down in the history books with the unseen hours she has put in."

The team superlatives included 29 assists – four shy of the program record – and a season-high 45 rebounds. The Lopes' 57% shooting from the field gave them six straight games of 50% or better from the floor.

With 10 home wins, GCU is already three shy of tying the program's Division I-era record for home wins that it tied last season.

The Lopes (12-2) had 60 points at the break, led by Erikstrup's 18 points and seven rebounds in the first half. Erikstrup, the WAC's field goal percentage leader, shot 62% from the field as her 24 points and 12 boards marked her third double-double in the past four games,.

The 29 assists led to eight of GCU's nine active players scoring, with senior Callie Cooper recording nine assists to go along with seven points and a career-high five steals.

The assist mark extended the Lopes' streak of five straight games with 20 or more dimes, all while conference assists leader Trinity San Antonio sat out Friday's game for rest.

The bench, while thin in numbers compared to previous games, provided 35 points with Obiazor scoring 23 of them and grabbing 10 boards for her first double-double of the season. The bench production from Obiazor has led to 10.5 points and 4.6 rebounds per game this season, with the Minnesota native scoring at least 20 points in three of her last five games.

GCU held Park Gilbert to 16% from 3-point range after the Buccaneers entered Friday as the NAIA leader in 3-pointers made per game at just over eight. It was the sixth time this season that the Lopes held an opponent to 30% or less from beyond the arc.

"A game like this is to knock the rust off and get into game mode again," Miller said. "I think it's nice to get to execute against someone else, regardless of what the score looks like. When we play each other, we know all the cheat codes, so having to read a different defense and a different style of play is beneficial for us as we go into one more nonconference game."

GCU closes out 2024 with another in-state opponent, Northern Arizona (9-3), at 2 p.m. Sunday. The Lopes host the 9-3 Lumberjacks for the first time since Dec. 9, 2020, and seek to become the first team to defeat every Division I school in Arizona in the same season. GCU defeated Arizona State Nov. 14 and won at Arizona on Dec. 5.