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MALIBU, Calif. - The Pepperdine women's basketball team had a cold first half and couldn't overcome it in the second, falling at home to Santa Clara, 65-54, on Saturday afternoon.

Pepperdine had just eight field goals in the first half, most of which came late in the period as they shot 30.4 percent for the game. The Waves made it close in each half, but weren't able to overcome the poor shooting day.

The Waves came out cold, scoring just three field goals in the first 12:45 of the first half to fall behind by as much as 18 points. Pepperdine closed the period strong, however, getting a breakaway layup from Allie Green (Sacramento, Calif./Sacramento HS) to make it a 10-point game at the 1:18 mark. Ea Shoushtari (Los Angeles, Calif./L.A.C.E.S.) followed with a three from the corner with 39 seconds left in the half and after a turnover, Bria Richardson (Hawthorne, Calif./Serra HS) made it a 30-24 game with a jumper at the buzzer.

The Waves shot just 29.6 percent to 42.3 percent by Santa Clara. The Broncos also scored 16 points in the paint to take the six-point lead into the break. Both teams combined for 25 turnovers in the first half.

Pepperdine pulled to within four early in the second half on a Richardson steal and coast-to-coast layup, but the Broncos rattled off 11 straight points to go back up 43-28. The Waves would go down by as much as 17 early in the second half.

With 7:55 to play, two Devin Stanback (West Hills, Calif./Chaminade HS) foul shots made it a 10-point contest, 54-44, but the Broncos again answered with four-straight and would push the lead to 20 down the stretch. A 9-0 run by Pepperdine over the final 3:00 of play made it an 11-point game at the final.

Nici Gilday finished the game leading all scorers with 23 points for Santa Clara and Keitra Wallace (Brea, Calif./Brea Olinda HS) led the Waves with 13. Stanback provided a spark off the bench in the second half for Pepperdine, scoring six points and grabbing four boards in 12 minutes.

The Broncos finished the game shooting 48.1 percent and won the points in the paint battle, 34-16. The Waves forced Santa Clara into 23 turnovers in the game, scoring 21 points off of the giveaways.

The loss drops Pepperdine to 6-14 overall, 1-8 WCC and moves the Broncos to 7-11, 2-7 WCC. The Waves are back in action next week when they host home games against Pacific and Saint Mary's.