Dec. 17, 2003

Box Score

MALIBU, Calif. -- Despite missing two starters from the Pepperdine roster including the team's leading scorer, the Waves put up a tough fight against No. 24-ranked Michigan State Wednesday night at Firestone Fieldhouse. However the Spartans, led by Lindsay Bowen's 20 points and Liz Shimek's 19 rebounds, took over in the final eight minutes to edge the Waves 71-55.

Senior guard Shandrika Lee poured in a season-high 16 points for Pepperdine on 3-7 shooting from the 3-point line and 3-4 from the free throw line. For the second consecutive game, junior forward Jennifer Lacy pulled down a team-high eight rebounds.

With the Waves' fourth straight defeat, the Pepperdine women's basketball team drops to 2-5 on the season while Michigan State improves to 7-1. Four of the Waves' five losses came at the helm of a Top 25 opponent.

Early on, the Waves kept it close in the opening half and tied the score up at 13-13 with 12:17 left to go in the first period. From that point, Michigan State grabbed hold of an 18-3 run to take a 31-16 lead with 4:20 on the clock. The Waves ended the drought on a pair of treys from Funn and freshman Lauren Wenski to cut the MSU advantage to nine (33-24) towards the end of the half. However, the visitors connected on free throws as they pulled the lead to 14 points (40-26) at halftime.

The Waves opened the second half with a 17-8 run to cut the margin to single-digits at five points (48-43) on a jumper by Nicole Funn with 8:08 to go, forcing a MSU timeout. The break proved successful as Michigan State made a big run and outscored Pepperdine 10-2 to stretch the lead to 13 points (58-45) with 4:41 remaining. The Waves continued to battle, but was only able to pull as close as nine points (61-52) as the Spartans went on to win by the final of 71-55.

Pepperdine made a season-low 17 total field goals and shot 27.4 percent in the game. Michigan State completed 47.6 percent of its shots (20-24) including 26-of-31 free throws.

Without their leading scorer Shanell Law, the Waves looked to leader's Lee and Funn on offense. Besides Lee, Funn was the only other double-figure scorer after contributing 14 points and six rebounds. Lacy and Wenski tallied eight points apiece while Kelli Spencer and Lee chipped in with three steals.

The Waves lost the battle of the boards, 43-32, but committed a season-low 11 turnovers versus the Spartans' 22. Pepperdine outscored the opponent 22-12 in second chance points but MSU converted more points off turnovers (17-13).

Pepperdine will host Fairleigh Dickinson in the opening game of the 2003 Malibu Beach Classic on Saturday at 5:00 p.m.