2024-25 WAC WBB NCAA 1st Round Release

GRAND CANYON WINS ITS FIRST WAC TOURNAMENT TITLE
After years of trying and coming up short in the WAC Women's Basketball Tournament, the Grand Canyon Lopes finally broke through on Saturday and defeated UT Arlington 65-62 in a gritty defensive comeback victory in the WAC championship game to secure GCU's first ever automatic bid to the 2025 NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Tournament. This win marked Grand Canyon's 30th consecutive victory, breaking the WAC record of 29 straight wins set by Louisiana Tech in 2002-03. Senior guard Trinity San Antonio was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player after averaging 17.3 points, 5.3 assists and 5.0 rebounds per game. Joining San Antonio on the all-tournament team from the Lopes were Alyssa Durazo-Frescas (14.0 points, 45.8 3-point percent shooting) and Laura Erikstrup (13.3 points, 7.0 rebounds, 81.0 percent shooting). UT Arlington's Avery Brittingham (15.7 points, 6.7 rebounds, 2.3 assists) and Koi Love (18.0 points, 5.7 rebounds, 3.7 assists) joined the GCU trio on the all-tournament team.
 
LOPES BRINGING THE WAC TO WACO
After winning the WAC tournament championship, it was announced on Selection Sunday that Grand Canyon secured the No. 13 seed in the Spokane quadrant of the 2025 NCAA DI Women's Basketball Tournament bracket as the Lopes will travel to Waco, Texas to take on No. 4 Baylor (27-7) in the first round at 2:30 p.m. CT on Friday, March 21. The game will air on ESPNU with Krista Blunk and Mary Murphy, who both called the WAC women's championship game, named as the broadcasting crew.
 
FOUR TEAMS SELECTED FOR POSTSEASON WNIT
For the first time since 1999, the WAC will have four teams playing in the Postseason WNIT. Tarleton State was an automatic qualifier, received a first-round bye and will host on Sunday, March 23rd at 2 p.m. CT the winner of the Lindenwood and Tulsa game. Abilene Christian will host its first-round matchup against Northwestern State on Thursday, March 20th at 6 p.m. CT., while UT Arlington will also host its first-round matchup on Thursday at 6:30 p.m. CT against Incarnate Word. Utah Valley will travel to Air Force for its first-round game on Friday, March 21st at 6:30 p.m. MT.
 
ALYSSA DURAZO-FRESCAS BREAKS WAC 3-POINT RECORD
Grand Canyon senior guard Alyssa Durazo-Frescas made WAC history in GCU's quarterfinal game versus Utah Tech as she notched her 115th 3-pointer this season, surpassing Becky Hammon's record of 114 set back in 1998-99. The record was broken at the end of the second quarter as Durazo-Frescas nailed a buzzer beater heading into halftime. She now sits at 124 3-pointers this season following the conclusion of the WAC tournament, leading the nation in total made 3's and 3-pointers per game (4.00).
 
TRINITY SAN ANTONIO NAMED 2024-25 WAC PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Grand Canyon's senior guard Trinity San Antonio claimed the 2024-25 WAC Women's Basketball Player of the Year honor on March 10, voted on by the conference's nine head coaches as part of the end of season awards presented by Jersey Mike's. Other major award winners included GCU's Tiarra Brown (WAC Defensive Player of the Year) and Molly Miller (WAC Coach of the Year), California Baptist's CeCe Legaspi (WAC Freshman of the Year), UT Arlington's Aspen Thornton and Utah Valley's Kylee Mabry (WAC Co-Sixth Player of the Year). Grand Canyon led the way with four total players on the WAC All-Conference Teams, including San Antonio and Brown on first team and Laura Erikstrup and Alyssa Durazo-Frescas on second team. UT Arlington took up two additional spots on first team with Avery Brittingham and Koi Love. Abilene Christian's Bella Earle captured the final spot on first team with her ACU teammate Meredith Mayes occupying a spot on second team. California Baptist's Khloe Lemon and Tarleton State's Jakoriah Long rounded out the all-conference second team.
 
WAC IN THE NATIONAL RANKINGS
Grand Canyon enters postseason tournaments in the top-10 nationally in multiple statistical categories including best record (32-2), longest active winning streak (30), 2nd in field goal percentage (49.3), 6th in 3-point percentage (38.1), 6th in steals per game (13.0), 8th in scoring margin (20.5) and 10th in turnovers forced per game (22.3). Utah Valley is the only other team in the WAC with more steals and turnovers forced per game than GCU, as the Wolverines are 4th in the nation in steals per game (13.5) and 8th in turnovers forced per game (23.3).