Resilient Lopes win battle of WAC’s top 2 teams

Saturday, February 15

Phoenix, Ariz.

2 p.m.

Grand Canyon

24-2,11-0WAC

UT Arlington

14-9,9-3WAC

UT Arlington

Grand Canyon

2/15/2025 6:22:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

Brown, San Antonio combine for 50; Win streak extends to 22 games

By: Nick Macdonald

Billed a marquee matchup between the number one and two teams in the Western Athletic Conference, the Saturday afternoon contest at Global Credit Union Arena certainly lived up to the hype.

The outcome? A resilient Lopes team taking control of the fourth quarter to push past UT Arlington 82-69 to extend the nation's longest active winning streak to 22 games.

News and Notes
-GCU moves to 24-2 overall, tying a Division I program record for wins in a season, matching last year's squad that went 24-8. The Lopes are now 11-0 in WAC play and hold a 2.5 game lead over UT Arlington (14-9, 9-3) with five regular season games remaining.
-Senior Alyssa Durazo-Frescas made three 3 pointers, her first of the game being her 87th of the season and surpassing Samantha Murphy (2010-11) for most threes in a single season in program history. Murphy made 86 in 32 games played, with Durazo-Frescas at 89 in 23 games played. She is 25 three pointers shy of tying the WAC's record for three pointers in a season, set by Becky Hammon in 1998-99 while a member of Colorado State.
-Dynamic duo Tiarra Brown and Trinity San Antonio combined for 50 of GCU's 82 points. Brown set a new career-high with 26, 20 coming in the first half, while San Antonio recorded 24 total points, 20 in the second half.
-The win at home put GCU to 17-0 on its home floor, one of two teams in the nation with 17 wins at home this season (TCU).

"We got to see what we were made of with our backs against the wall at home," said head coach Molly Miller. "It was another challenge and adversity moment that these kids rose up to and I am really proud of them for their fight. That is a very good basketball team with lots of offense. We made some adjustments with foul trouble in that second half and everyone stepped up when they needed to."

Entering with the WAC leader in points per game (Koi Love/16.8 ppg), the Mavericks jumped out to a quick 5-0 lead with an eventual 15-7 advantage at the first media timeout. Aspen Thornton and Tayliah Clark hit a pair of three pointers and the Mavericks as a whole shot 64% in the first quarter to score 22 points at the end of one.

Despite being down, the Lopes playmakers including Durazo-Frescas, Brown, and graduate Laura Erikstrup strung together baskets to keep pace with UTA, closing the gap to four, 22-18, at the first quarter buzzer.

The perimeter defense from the Lopes clamped down on the Mavericks the rest of the way, holding UTA to 0-8 from outside for the remainder of the game. Both teams pressured the paint in the second quarter, led by Brown who scored 14 points on 6 of 7 shooting in a back-and-forth battle on each offensive possession. Love's layup as time expired tied the game at 38 all heading into intermission.

It was the third time in the last nine games the Lopes were tied or trailing at the break.

The game saw very little runs as each team countered the other in made baskets down the stretch of the third quarter. GCU broke through with its largest lead of the day six minutes into the quarter. Durazo-Frescas made a transition three thanks to a block on the other end from Brown, and a steal from San Antonio set her up for a breakaway layup to put the Lopes up 53-47.

Foul trouble started to ensue for the Lopes, who totaled eight in the quarter with San Antonio and senior guard Callie Cooper picking up three total fouls for the game with two minutes remaining in the third. The Mavericks made a run of their own and tied it off an and-1 layup from Thornton, who recorded a game-high 29 points.

GCU led 58-57 after three.

The Lopes entered the contest outscoring its opposition 480-391 in the fourth quarter and found its spark in the Olympian San Antonio.

"We stuck together, every single play," said San Antonio. "That's what mattered down the stretch, not every play went our way tonight but the way we stuck together as a team helped our group get the win."

A Thornton jumper put UTA up 66-63 with six minutes to play, but a foul on the other end beyond the arc gave Durazo-Frescas three free throws to tie it up at 66. The free throw shooting became the difference maker for the Lopes down the stretch, making 12 of 14 in the quarter including 8 of 9 from San Antonio, who at one point drained seven in a row.

San Antonio kicked off the free throw spree with an and-1 layup to put the Lopes up five and scored 11 straight points for the Lopes in a stretch of two and half minutes, putting GCU up 79-69 with 1:38 to play. Known as one of the best defensive units in the nation year in and year out under Miller, the Lopes held the Mavericks to 30% from the field for the final quarter and 0 of 6 from the field over the final 2:41 of regulation.

GCU finished the game shooting 53% from the field, its 17th game this season with a clip of 50% or higher. The Lopes have shot 50% or better in nine of 11 WAC games and entered the contest fourth in the nation in field goal percentage.

"Today was about perseverance," said Brown. "We knew we were going to be battle tested with this game, but trusting one another like we do with every game helps us in tough matchups like this."

The Lopes outrebounded the Mavericks 31-24 for the game as Cooper, Erikstrup and Brown each grabbed six a piece. San Antonio finished her day with eight assists, putting her season total to 137, tied for 14th most in the nation.

"We knew what was at stake the with the marquee, 1-2 WAC matchup at hand," Miller said. "We have to focus on what we can control and our execution early was not good and didn't look like ourselves, but we settled in, especially after halftime, and got better looks and were a lot more disciplined. I can't say enough about Tiarra Brown, being here five years and doing what she has done her whole career, it's incredible to see."

GCU takes a week off before heading on the road to California Baptist Saturday, Feb. 22. It has two home games remaining on the regular season schedule, a March 1st meeting against Seattle U and the regular season final March 8th versus Abilene Christian.