2024-25 WAC WBB Week 9 Release

NEW YEAR, NEW SEASON OF CONFERENCE PLAY
The 2025 WAC conference season will begin Jan. 4 with four games slated in the afternoon. Utah Valley travels to Abilene Christian for a 1 p.m. CT start, Seattle U hosts defending WAC tournament champions California Baptist at 1 p.m. PT, non-conference WAC standings leader Grand Canyon faces Southern Utah at 2 p.m. MT, and Tarleton State takes on in-state foe UT Arlington at 2 p.m. CT. Utah Tech's conference schedule will begin next Thursday.
 
STRONG FINISHES TO 2024
The league closed out 2024 and the non-conference slate on a high note as seven of the nine teams ended the year with a win, four of those teams closing with a winning streak. Grand Canyon heads into WAC play on an 11-game hot streak, the nation's eighth longest active winning streak. Tied for the 10th longest active winning streak is Abilene Christian who has won its last nine games. Tarleton State notched its first four-game winning streak since 2021 and has won five of its last six games, the one loss coming to ranked Nebraska. Utah Valley will return from a two-week break as the Wolverines closed non-conference play with two consecutive wins.
 
BIG WEEKEND FOR DURAZO-FRESCAS
Grand Canyon's Alyssa Durazo-Frescas is now the national leader in 3-pointers made this season after a big weekend from the senior guard who broke the GCU single-game record of 3's made in a game with nine against Park (AZ) for a career-high 27 points. Durazo-Frescas also reached 1,000 career points as she sunk three more shots from beyond the arc in the Lopes' victory over Northern Arizona to increase her season total to 60 made 3-pointers.
 
UT ARLINGTON SEEING TRIPLE-DOUBLE
UT Arlington wrapped up 2024 in historic fashion as it set a new program single-game scoring record of 113 points in its win over Wiley. The Lady Mavs had six players with double digit scoring including Avery Brittingham and Koi Love who made UTA history as they were the first pair of Lady Mavs to record a triple-double in the same game. Brittingham posted 10 points, 15 rebounds, and 10 assists as Love's 18 points, 12 rebounds, and 10 assists won her this week's WAC Newcomer of the Week award. Love is one of 13 players in the nation to record a triple-double and Brittingham is one of four players to have more than one triple-double this season.
 
WAC STAT LEADERS HEADING INTO CONFERENCE PLAY
Abilene Christian's Payton Hull leads the WAC in scoring by averaging 18.5 points per game, Utah Valley's Danja Stafford Collins leads in rebounding with 9.3 rebounds per game, and Utah Tech's Chardonnay Hartley is ranked eighth in the nation with 6.3 assists per game. Defensively, Grand Canyon's Trinity San Antonio's 42 steals is the ninth most in the country and California Baptist's Emma Johansson holds the most blocks in the conference with 23. GCU's Laura Erikstrup has the 17th best field goal percentage in the nation shooting 60.0 percent from the field and Hull's 83.6 percent shooting from the free-throw line is the best in the WAC.