March 5, 2011
Box Score
Pepperdine and San Diego Box Score (March 5, 2011) 
LAS VEGAS, Nev. - The Pepperdine women's basketball team valiantly fought back from a 20-point deficit with a strong second-half push, but San Diego ultimately kept the Waves at bay and left the Orleans Arena with a 77-68 quarterfinal win Saturday afternoon at the West Coast Conference Championships.
The seventh-seeded Toreros (17-13) will move on to face the No. 2 seed Saint Mary's Gaels Sunday at 2 p.m., while the Waves (18-11) wait to see if they're invited to the WNIT for a second straight year. Wins over Temple, UC Riverside and Cal Poly were among the Waves' most notable of the season, plus they finished third in the conference at 9-5 and entered this week with the WCC's second best RPI (94).
"I thought we had a good regular season with some great wins and I hope we can continue on playing in the WNIT," head coach Julie Rousseau said. "Obviously this was not the outcome we wanted but I praise God that we got here as the No. 3 seed. We came up short but I'm proud of our kids' effort as they fought all the way back. Hats off to San Diego They are playing extremely well and we knew that coming into this game."
The first half experienced two ties and nine lead changes with Pepperdine's biggest advantage (six points) coming at the 12:05 mark after Lauren Bell (San Bruno, Calif./Sacred Heart Cathedral Preparatory) knocked down one of her four 3-pointers. The Waves' started the game shooting 53 percent (7-of-13) and were golden from long range (5-of-6).
Bell led all Waves with a career game high 22 points. Her previous high of 20 was recorded in 2009 vs. UC Riverside.
But after Pepperdine built up its cushion, the Toreros quickly began to scratch away at it. They cut their deficit down to two at third media time out, 27-25, and then led by three, 33-30 with three minutes remaining. At halftime, USD led by 11 as it finished the first period on a 16-3 run as the Waves connected on just one of their last nine field-goal attempts.
"We came out shooting the ball well and sometimes that's not good," Rousseau said, "because it's easy to fall into a trap of taking quick shots and thinking they're all going to fall. And it wasn't until the 14 minute mark of the second half and down by 20 that we got back to grinding. We showed a lot of grit and determination in our comeback, but it had to be perfect for us to win. Overall, there were just too many missed opportunities."
Redshirt senior guard Katie Menton (Coarsegold, Calif./Yosemite HS) and sophomore forward T'Keyah Shealy (Englewood, Colo./Regis Jesuit HS) were two of the Waves' offensive catalysts during the Waves' first second-half rally. Each poured in five points during a five-minute stretch as Pepperdine reduced its deficit to single digits for the first time since the 2:03 mark of the first half.
After USD went back up by 12 following a pair of Emily Hatch free throws, Bell got the Waves' fans back on their feet with a trey. Shealy then tipped in a shot on Pepperdine's next possession and a pair of layups by Bell and junior guard Jazmine Jackson (Oakland, Calif./Sacred Heart Cathedral Preparatory) made it a five-point game at 66-61 and 1:42 remaining.
Unfortunately, that's as close as Pepperdine could get the rest of the way as San Diego scored 11 of its 23 points from the foul line over the final 1:20.
Jackson finished the game with 14 points and a team high four steals, while Menton scored 18 with two assists.
"Once we picked up our game on defense, our entire attitude shifted," Menton said of Pepperdine's second-half comeback. "We started making some buckets and attacking the basket. I felt we got our confidence back and we started getting stops. The defensive pressure gave us that push to get back into the game."
Pepperdine shot 37.7 percent as a team from the field, including a season best 64.3 percent (9-14) from 3-point range. The Waves also made 72.2 percent of their shots from the charity stripe, but were outrebounded 53-28 and forced only 16 turnovers.
Dominique Connors and Hatch led USD with double-doubles. Connors contributed 17 points and 10 rebounds, while Hatch recorded 13 of each.
The WNIT will announce its field of 64 teams late Monday, March 14 following the NCAA Women's selection show.
