Trio of Lopes earn All-WAC accolades

A trio of Grand Canyon players were honored by the WAC with postseason accolades after completing a record-breaking regular season.

Lopes senior forward Tiarra Brown was named to her second consecutive All-WAC first team, becoming the first GCU player to earn three All-WAC accolades in a career. Brown was named to the second team in 2020-21 and the first team last season. She is also the first GCU player to be named to the first team twice in her career.

Lopes graduate forward Laura Erikstrup's contribution off the bench proved vital down the stretch of the season. Her spark off the bench led her to Sixth Woman of the Year honors.

GCU's defense has been consistently ranked among the best in the nation in multiple categories since head coach Molly Miller took the helm for the 2020-21 season. The play of junior guard Trinity San Antonio and Brown contributed to yet another top defensive season, earning WAC All-Defensive Team honors for each.

Tiarra Brown

Brown finished the regular season averaging 10.2 points, 5.0 rebounds and 0.9 blocks per game while shooting 51% from the field. The Spanaway, Washington, native recorded 14 games in double digits with 16 games of five or more rebounds.

Known for her high-flying rebounding efforts and ability to stop transition baskets, Brown had a career-best 25 blocked shots, with seven multi-block games this season. She ranked seventh in the conference in blocks per game against WAC opponents, and finished the season with 39 steals, attributing to her 197 for her career, a GCU program record.

Brown's play near the end stretch of the season has ramped up, averaging 16.5 points, 5.0 rebounds and 2.0 steals in her last four games. She recently dropped a career-high 23 points on 10-of-12 shooting with six rebounds at Stephen F. Austin. The Lopes, who enter the WAC Tournament with the No. 2 seed, could face the Ladyjacks again in Friday's semifinal, bearing on quarterfinal resuls.

Laura Erikstrup

Erikstrup, in her first GCU season, made an immediate impact off the bench as the Lopes backup forward. One of three players to play all 31 games for GCU, Erikstrup averaged 6.1 points and 2.5 rebounds while shooting a team-leading 60% from the field.

From Portland, Oregon, Erikstrup has five double-digit scoring performances, including a 22-point showing at UT Rio Grande Valley on Feb. 29. Erikstrup was key to GCU's offensive rebounding production, totaling 34 offensive boards to contribute to 43% of her total rebounding efforts.

Trinity San Antonio

San Antonio was a catalyst on both sides of the floor for the Lopes, ranking first on the team in points per game (11.2) and first in steals per game (2.3). She ranked fourth and fifth in the WAC for steals and steals per game, respectively.

In her first GCU season, San Antonio recorded a steal in every contest that she played, including 19 games with two or more and 10 games with three or more. The Moreno Valley, California, native also dished out 92 assists, ranking 10th in the WAC in assists per game (3.4) while owning a 1.2-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio that ninth best in the league.

Under Miller, GCU has garnered five All-WAC players and five All-Defensive Team players. The Lopes ended the regular season at 24-7, the most wins in a single season in the program's Division I era.

Grand Canyon University Athletics

Players Mentioned

Tiarra Brown

Laura Erikstrup

Trinity San Antonio

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