Southern Utah visits Grand Canyon after Erikstrup’s 20-point outing

By Canadian Press on January 22, 2025.

Southern Utah Thunderbirds (3-14, 1-3 WAC) at Grand Canyon Antelopes (17-2, 4-0 WAC)

Phoenix; Thursday, 8 p.m. EST

BOTTOM LINE: Grand Canyon plays Southern Utah after Laura Erikstrup scored 20 points in Grand Canyon’s 57-53 victory against the Tarleton State Texans.

The Antelopes have gone 12-0 in home games. Grand Canyon ranks sixth in the WAC with 8.8 offensive rebounds per game led by Erikstrup averaging 2.7.

The Thunderbirds are 1-3 against conference opponents. Southern Utah is 2-3 when it wins the turnover battle and averages 16.2 turnovers per game.

Grand Canyon’s average of 7.3 made 3-pointers per game this season is just 0.2 more made shots on average than the 7.1 per game Southern Utah gives up. Southern Utah has shot at a 39.2% rate from the field this season, 0.1 percentage points fewer than the 39.3% shooting opponents of Grand Canyon have averaged.

The matchup Thursday is the first meeting of the season for the two teams in conference play.

TOP PERFORMERS: Erikstrup is scoring 15.8 points per game and averaging 7.2 rebounds for the Antelopes. Alyssa Durazo-Frescas is averaging 4.5 made 3-pointers over the last 10 games.

Ava Uhrich is scoring 10.3 points per game and averaging 4.3 rebounds for the Thunderbirds. Sydney Gandy is averaging 1.7 made 3-pointers over the last 10 games.

LAST 10 GAMES: Antelopes: 10-0, averaging 80.3 points, 31.1 rebounds, 18.0 assists, 13.6 steals and 3.4 blocks per game while shooting 51.5% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 56.2 points per game.

Thunderbirds: 2-8, averaging 61.0 points, 31.0 rebounds, 14.8 assists, 6.0 steals and 3.8 blocks per game while shooting 39.5% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 67.2 points.

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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.

The Associated Press