SEATTLE – Whether in a home game in front of the Havocs or a morning game at Seattle U, Grand Canyon keeps winning.
With a unique starting time of 11 a.m. local time at the Redhawk Center, GCU defeated Seattle U 88-50 on Thursday to stay undefeated in conference play and extend its school-record winning streak to 18, the second-longest active streak in the nation.
News and notes
- Five Lopes registered double-figure point totals while 11 GCU players scored with 54% team shooting. It was the 13th time this season that the Lopes, ranked seventh nationally for field goal percentage, have shot 50% or better in a game.
- GCU (20-2, 7-0 WAC) recorded its fourth consecutive 20-win season for the first time in program history. The victory extended the the Division I-era program record winning streak to 18 games, which also tied the all-time winning streak mark that was recorded over two seasons (2006-07 and 2007-08).
- Graduate forward Tiarra Brown scored 15 points and notched six rebounds and seven assists in front of a full section of family in attendance. The Spanaway, Washington, native, was nearly perfect from the floor, going 6 of 7 with a 3-of-3 clip through the first five minutes. Brown is 8-0 vs. Seattle U in her GCU career.
- After missing three games, Lopes senior guard Alyssa Durazo-Frescas started Thursday and tallyied 10 points with two rebounds and two steals in 20 minutes.
“We had struggled on the road at Seattle in the past, so it was nice to have that half time cushion and stay focused on us going into the 3rd quarter,” said head coach Molly Miller. “Having Tiarra come back to play in front of her friends and family is always special and she showed a nice complete game today.”
Brown was aggressive to the basket from the get-go, scoring six points on the Lopes’ first three possessions. Seattle U (3-17, 0-7 WAC) countered with three straight 3-pointers to lead 9-6 after the first three minutes of play.
GCU settled in, seeing a pair of 3-pointers drop via graduate guard Anna Ostlie and senior guard Ale’jah Douglas for a 20-16 lead at the end of the first quarter.
Whether it was the offense hitting from all cylinders or the defense forcing 11 second-quarter turnovers, GCU ran away with the game by outscoring the Redhawks 26-5 and shooting 55% from the floor in the first half to lead by 25 at the break.
Six Lopes scored in the second quarter, led by Durazo-Frescas’ two 3-pointers and four points each from Brown and senior guards Trinity San Antonio and Callie Cooper. Ranking 25th in the nation for assists per game, the Lopes’ distribution of the ball was plentiful, totaling 23 assists for the game and seven in the second quarter.
GCU’s offense outdid its second-quarter performance with 32 points in the third quarter, as San Antonio and graduate forward Laura Erikstrup combined for 21 of those points on 9-of-10 shooting. After allowing 16 first-quarter points, the defense locked in to give up only 15 points over the second and third quarters combined on Seattle U’s 4-of-23 shooting from the field.
“I thought we were well balanced across the board,” Miller said. “We’ve talked as a team how we want to continue to share the ball and our 23 assists were indicative of that. We continue to show we can win in different ways and today it was against 40 minutes of zone. I’m proud of how they keep stepping up to any challenge and getting better everyday.”
The Lopes scored 19 fastbreak points to Seattle U’s six, marking the 17th time this season that GCU scored more fastbreak points than its opponent to improve to 17-0 in such contests.
GCU heads to Utah for a Saturday afternoon contest at Utah Valley in Orem. Tipoff is set for 2 p.m. (Phoenix time).The Lopes won the teams’ first meeting 71-59 on Jan. 9 in Phoenix with Erikstrup tallying 22 points and 10 rebounds and San Antonio adding 19 points.
