MALIBU, Calif. – A series of last-second shots would not fall as the Pepperdine women's basketball team fell to Hawaii 53-52 on Friday night. Deezha Battle led the Waves as the only player in double figures.

The Waves (1-2) made a valiant 13-point fourth-quarter comeback, but the Rainbow Wahine (2-1) kept them at bay to secure the victory.

BIG WAVES

·         Deezha Battle (Albuquerque, N.M./Cochise College) led the Waves with 10 points. She also added one rebound and one assist.

·         Barbara Sitanggan (Fullerton, Calif./Troy HS) put up nine points, including two of the Waves' four three-pointers. She led the Waves with nine rebounds, three assists and five steals.

·         Jayla Ruffus-Milner (North Hills, Calif./Harvard-Westlake HS) had her best game of the year, scoring eight points and bringing down six rebounds.

GAME RECAP

The Waves got on the board first thanks to a jumper from Ashleen Quirke (Los Gatos, Calif./Foothill College). Hawaii scored the next few baskets to take an 8-4 lead. After some back and forth baskets, Battle hit a jumper with 30 seconds left in the quarter to send the game to the second quarter tied at 13. Battle then scored a breakaway layup to start the second and give the Waves a 15-13 lead. Pepperdine went into the half with a 22-19 lead thanks to a Monique Andriuolo (Melbourne, Australia/Maribyrnong Secondary College) jumper with 30 seconds left.

To start the second half, the Waves and Wahine traded baskets until the Wahine went on a 11-2 run to end the third with a 41-32 lead. In the fourth, Hawaii took its largest lead of the game at 52-39 with just 3:24 left on the clock. The Waves then took off on a 9-0 run capped off by two free throws from Battle got the Waves to within a point after Sitanggan was fouled hard and a flagrant foul was called with 39 seconds left to play in the game. The Waves had three good looks with time winding down to put the ball in the basket ad win the game, but four layups were not converted and the Wahine got the one-point win.

KEY STATS

·         The Waves did not shoot the ball well on Friday night, shooting just 27.1% from the field, compared to 39.2% from the Wahine.

·         Both teams did not fare well from beyond the three-point line, making just four shots each.

·         The Waves dominated off the bench, scoring 26 points compared to Hawaii's six points.

·         Hawaii won the rebounding battle 44-41.

UP NEXT

The Waves head to New Mexico State on Tuesday, with tipoff scheduled for 6 p.m. Pacific time.