Pepperdine University
Gonzaga
Waves Fall at Home to No. 24 Gonzaga, 79-50
1/5/2012 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Jan. 5, 2012
MALIBU, Calif. - In its first home West Coast Conference game of the season, the Pepperdine women's basketball team fell 79-50 to No. 24 Gonzaga Thursday evening.
Pepperdine (7-7, 2-1 WCC) opened conference play with two road wins before suffering its first conference loss tonight. The Bulldogs (13-2, 2-0 WCC) now have two road conference victories.
Senior guard Katie Menton (Coarsegold, Calif./Yosemite HS) was the only Wave to score in double-figures, as she tallied 15 total points and was 7-of-8 from the charity stripe. She also led the team with six rebounds. Fellow senior guard Jazmine Jackson (Oakland, Calif./Sacred Heart Cathedral Prep) was next with nine points and four rebounds.
Thursday's game saw the return of junior forward T'Keyah Shealy (Englewood, Colo./Regis Jesuit HS) to the starting lineup after being out due to injury. This was Shealy's first action since Nov. 16 at Cal State Fullerton. She finished tonight's game with two points and three rebounds in 10 minutes.
The Waves were hurt by the second-lowest shooting percentage all season (27.4 percent) and could not overcome a 7-of-32 shooting effort in the first half. After going down 0-2 early, a steal by Lauren Bell (San Bruno, Calif./Sacred Heart Cathedral Prep) led to a Shealy basket to tie the game at 2-2 with 18:41 left in the first half.
The Zags would open up a 19-4 lead off a 17-2 run through the 10:20 mark as the Waves just couldn't find the bottom of the basket. A layup by Jackson with 10:20 left in the first half would end the drought.
A three-pointer by Robie Mayberry (San Leandro, Calif./Bishop O'Dowd HS) with 9:52 left would cut the lead to 10, 19-9. However the Bulldogs would answer with a 10-0 run to push their lead to 20 with 4:28 to go in the first.
Free throws from Menton at the 4:28 mark and a layup with 2:58 to go would spark a 7-4 run by the Waves through the end of the half to cut the lead to just 15 at the break, 35-20.
In the first half the Waves forced the Zags into 14 turnovers and capitalized with 15 points off steals.
Despite shooting better in the second half, the Waves could not overcome the deficit. The Bulldogs opened up their lead quickly in the second half off an 11-3 run, and with 16:09 to play had opened up a 48-27 lead. They finished off the second half with a hot 58.1 percent from the field.
For the game the Zags shot 54.1 percent from the field and 33.3 percent from three-point line. The Waves forced the Bulldogs into 24 turnovers, more than their average of 18.0 per game coming into Thursday's tilt.
The Waves will regroup and host Portland (7-10, 0-3 WCC) on Saturday, Jan. 7 at 2 p.m. PT.
