MALIBU, California – The Pepperdine women's basketball team put forth a spirited Senior Day effort against #13 Gonzaga on Saturday afternoon, but the Bulldogs broke the game open in the third quarter and went on to a 64-50 West Coast Conference victory.
 
Pepperdine (14-12, 8-8) was tied after the first quarter and within three points at halftime against Gonzaga (27-2, 16-1), which had already clinched the WCC regular-season title. But the Bulldogs outscored the Waves 23-9 in the fourth quarter.
 
BIG WAVES

• Junior forward Monique Andriuolo (Melbourne, Australia) had 10 points and eight rebounds.
• Senior guard Hannah Friend (San Clemente, Calif./Sacramento State) had 10 points and two steals.
• Senior guard Barbara Sitanggan (Fullerton, Calif./Troy HS) had seven points, six assists and five rebounds.
• Sophomore guard Malia Bambrick (Santa Clarita, Calif./Bishop Alemany HS) scored eight points.

KEY STATS 

• The Waves were held to 27.8% shooting, while the Bulldogs finished at 39.7%.
• Gonzaga made eight three-pointers to Pepperdine's three.
• The Waves committed only nine turnovers while forcing 14, and had an 11-6 edge in points off turnovers.
• Gonzaga was led by Jill Townsend's 13 points.

PLAY BY PLAY
 
A close first quarter saw both teams take their biggest lead of three points, with the Waves at 3-0 and Gonzaga at 8-5. It was tied at 12 after the first quarter.
 
Gonzaga scored the first five points of the second quarter, but a basket by senior guard Paige Fecske (Studio City, Calif./Chaminade HS) cut it to one at 19-18, and it was tied at 23 after a Bambrick three-pointer. Gonzaga scored the final three points of the half to go up 26-23 at the break.
 
The Bulldogs opened the third quarter on an 11-2 run to make it 37-25, and Townsend scored eight straight points to push the lead to 47-30. Gonzaga led 49-32 after 30 minutes.
 
Pepperdine won the fourth quarter at 18-15, but could only get the deficit down to single-digits once at 56-47 after a Sitanggan jumper with three minutes left.
 
NOTABLE 

• Six Pepperdine seniors were honored before the game – Fecske, Friend, Sitanggan, Deezha Battle, Ashleen Quirke and Tara Dusharm. The seniors combined to score 25 of Pepperdine's 50 points today,
• Sitanggan was also honored pregame for becoming the program's all-time assist leader earlier this month.

 UP NEXT
 
Pepperdine concludes the regular season next week with road games at BYU (Thursday, Feb. 27, 7 p.m. MT) and San Diego (Saturday, Feb. 29, 2 p.m.).