MALIBU, Calif. – The Pepperdine women's basketball team mounted a valiant comeback on Saturday night, but could not come away with the victory, falling to cross-town rival Loyola Marymount 84-77. Paige Fecske led all scorers with 26 points.

The Waves (9-8, 3-4 WCC) trailed the Lions (7-13, 3-4 WCC) for most of the game, leading by just five points in the third quarter.

BIG WAVES

·         Senior guard Paige Fecske (Studio City, Calif./Chaminade HS) had 26 points, leading all scorers. She also had seven rebound and three assists. Her 26 points got her to within three points of 1,000 in her career. She was 4-9 from beyond the arc.

·         Senior guard Barbara Sitanggan (Fullerton, Calif./Troy HS) had her second double-double of the year, scoring 17 points and bringing down 10 boards. She also had four assists.

·         Redshirt-senior guard Hannah Friend (San Clemente, Calif./Sacramento State) had 11 points and three blocks.

PLAY-BY-PLAY

Fecske scored the Waves' first five points, making a three to open the game and then hitting a jumper to take a three-point lead. After the two teams were tied at 11 with 4:41 left on the clock, the Lions went on a 7-0 run to end the first and take a 21-13 lead into the second quarter.

In the second, the Waves cut into the Lions' lead, eventually tying the game at 34 with 1:11 on the clock. The Lions hit a three-pointer, but Fecske made a layup with 40 seconds left to cut the Lions' lead to 1 at the half.

After the break, the Waves came out hot, jumping out to a five point lead two and a half minutes into the third quarter. The Lions tied and retook the lead, but with 30 seconds left in the half, the Waves got a jumper from Malia Bambrick (Valencia, Calif./Bishop Alemany HS) to tie the game. Chelsey Gipson of LMU hit a 3-pointer with 10 seconds left to give the Lions a 61-58 lead going into the final 10 minutes.

Loyola Marymount carried the momentum into the fourth, jumping out to a 10-point lead with 5:40 to play. The Waves got to within one point with 1:41 left on the clock, but did not score the rest of the game, while the Lions scored six unanswered points to win the game.

KEY STATS

·         The Lions outshot the Waves 51% to 41% from the field, as well as 57.9% to 38.9% from three.

·         Pepperdine outrebounded LMU 44-41.

·         The Waves got more production off the bench, getting 16 points to the Lions' eight. Pepperdine also capitalized more on turnovers, scoring 20 points after takeaways, compared to just 12 from the Lions.

UP NEXT

The Waves hit the road next week, taking on Gonzaga in Spokane on Thursday and Portland on Saturday. Tip-off for the game against the Bulldogs is scheduled for 6 p.m.