Final Stats

Box Score

LAS VEGAS, Nev. - The Pepperdine women's basketball team battled back from 12 points down, but had a last-second shot rim out to fall to Loyola Marymount, 68-67, in the opening round of the WCC Tournament.

The Waves made a push led by Keitra Wallace, who hit a three with 13 seconds left to tie the game, but LMU drew a foul and hit one free throw to get the win.

"I was really proud of the way the girls fought back in this game," said head coach Ryan Weisenberg, who completes his second season at the helm for Pepperdine. "They did a great job sticking to our game plan and not getting rattled even when we were down. You have to hand it to LMU, though, they played a great game."

The Waves went down by as much as seven in the first half, but an Allie Green (Sacramento, Calif./Sacramento HS) 3-pointer just before the Buzzer made it a 34-30 game going into the break. Bria Richardson (Hawthorne, Calif./Serra HS) and Wallace (Brea, Calif./Brea Olinda HS) each had nine points in the half for the Waves, and Sophie Taylor put in 15 for the Lions.

LMU pushed it to a nine-point lead at the 14:03 mark in the second half and then went up 48-37 on a Leslie Lopez-Wood fast-break layup midway through the half. A triple by the lions pushed it to a 12-point game with 9:34 to play.

The Waves made a push with just over five minutes to play, getting a steal by Wallace and then a fast-break layup from Tessa Emerson (Santa Barbara, Calif./Santa Barbara HS) to make it a 60-53 game at the 5:17 mark. Wallace later hit a pair of free throws and followed with a layup to make it 63-57 with 1:53 left on the clock. The offense would continue to go through Wallace down the stretch as she worked her way to the line to cut it to a five-point game with 1:26 left.

Richardson then stole the ball at midcourt and drove in for the layup, drawing a foul on the play to make it 66-64 with 25.4 seconds left. After LMU missed one of two free throws, Wallace came down and nailed a three from the top of the key to tie the game with 13.6 seconds left. After timeouts by both teams LMU drew a foul on the inbounds and Olivia Lucero hit one free throw to make it 68-67.

Lucero missed the second foul shot and Wallace came away with the rebound, throwing it ahead to Green who tried to go to the hole, but was cut off on the baseline. The Waves struggled to get the ball off the baseline due to the length of LMU, but finally did and the ball found its way into Emerson's hands as time was expiring. Her 3-point attempt was almost half-way down before rimming out at the buzzer.

Wallace finished the game with 22 points, 13 of which came in the second half. Both Richardson and Green scored 15 and Ea Shoushtari (Los Angeles, Calif./L.A.C.E.S.) added a career-high 14 rebounds and seven assists. The Waves were 7-of-7 from the free throw line in the second half.

Taylor finished with 22 points for the Lions and Emily Ben-Jumbo had 17.

"It's tough to lose when a game is so close like that, but I was just glad we came out and fought," said Richardson, who along with fellow seniors Shoushtari and Emerson closed out their Pepperdine careers on Thursday.

"I just wish we could bring this senior class back," said Weisenberg. "They are a great group and have represented themselves and the university extremely well through their careers. I'm proud not only of how they fought today, but how this team hung together through a lot of adversity this season."

The Waves finish the season 8-22 on the year, while LMU moves to 7-23. The Lions move on to face top-seeded Gonzaga tomorrow at noon in the tournament quarterfinals.