Jan. 15, 2004
Box Score
MALIBU, Calif. - The Pepperdine Waves made the most of their first West Coast Conference home game. A week after a disappointing offensive showing against Gonzaga and Portland, Pepperdine made up for it with a dominant performance against Santa Clara.
The Waves outscored the Broncos 28 to 8 in the paint and recorded almost double the rebounds (42-23) in Thursday night's 85-62 victory at Firestone Fieldhouse.
"We wanted to play at a higher intensity level than we have been," said Pepperdine's Shandrika Lee, who led her team with 14 points and four assists. "We came out and focused on the small things like defense and rebounding which gave us the advantage. We had a lot of fun out there tonight and we plan to build off of this game."
Along with Lee, five other Pepperdine players scored in double figures including Nicole Funn and Kelli Spencer with 11 points each. Jennifer Lacy, Shannon Mayberry, and Shanell Law added 10 apiece while Kerra Wodarski pitched in eight points, respectively.
Santa Clara (5-10, 1-1) managed just 18 field goals and committed 23 turnovers that the Waves converted into 32 points. The Broncos' Ashley Gonnerman paced both teams with 17 points.
"Our strongest part was what we did on the defensive end," Pepperdine head coach Mark Trakh said. "The women went up for tough rebounds and they dove for loose balls...I was really proud of our effort tonight."
The Broncos led by as much as seven points early on until Wodarski tallied a 3-pointer at 6:31 to give the Waves a one point advantage (24-23). From that point, SCU hit a scoring drought during which Lee converted a four-point play and gave the Waves a comfortable 37-28 advantage. The Orange and Blue built off of the momentum and went to the break ahead 43-29.
The Waves, who have won their last six conference openers, came out on fire and took a 24-point lead (64-40) seven minutes into the second period. Santa Clara never got much closer as they fell 85-62 on the road.
Kelly Greathouse added a game-high tying seven rebounds for Pepperdine while Jenni Gottschalk earned a team-high four boards for Santa Clara. The Waves found success at the foul line tonight as they completed 22-of-26 from the charity stripe.
Pepperdine squares up with San Diego at home on Saturday beginning at 7 p.m.
