MALIBU, Calif. – The Pepperdine women's basketball team made a late push on Saturday afternoon, but fell just short as Santa Clara came out on top 68-64.
The Waves (3-9, 0-8 WCC) outscored the Broncos (9-6, 5-4 WCC) in the second half, but could not complete the comeback to win their first West Coast Conference game of the year.
BIG WAVES
- Junior guard Malia Bambrick (Santa Clarita, Calif./Bishop Alemany HS) had one of the best shooting games of her year, scoring 17 points and shooting 7-for-12 from the field. She also made three out of the four three-point shots she took.
- Redshirt-sophomore forward Jayla Ruffus-Milner (North Hills, Calif./Harvard Westlake HS) had 11 points, and brought down six rebounds.
- Senior forward Monique Andriuolo (Melbourne, Australia/Maribyrnong Secondary College) led the Waves with eight rebounds. She also had eight points.
PLAY-BY-PLAY
The first half was all Broncos, as they started the game on an 11-2 run. Santa Clara nearly doubled the Waves' output in the first, taking a 19-10 lead after 10 minutes. The Broncos continued their offensive onslaught in the second quarter, building their lead to as many as 18 points and taking a 46-28 lead at the half.
In the third quarter, the Broncos got their lead to as many as 20 points, but the Waves scored the last five points of the quarter, cutting Santa Clara's lead to 58-43.
The fourth quarter was all Waves, who, in the middle of the quarter, went on a 10-0 run to get the score to 62-58. In that run,
Tara Dusharm (Foley, Minn./Saint Louis) scored all six of her points in the game. Pepperdine then cut the lead to two points on a
Kendyl Carson (Juneau, Alaska/Juneau Douglas HS) three from the logo. The Broncos got two free throws with eight seconds left, and two missed jumpers from the Waves ended the valiant effort.
KEY STATS
- The Waves outshot the Broncos 45% to 43% from the field.
- Pepperdine shot the ball from deep extremely well, shooting 45.5% from deep, compared to 26.1% from Santa Clara.
- The Waves also controlled the boards, bringing down 40 rebounds to the Broncos' 32.
UP NEXT
The Waves and Broncos have a quick turnaround, as the two teams face off again tomorrow afternoon in Firestone Fieldhouse, with tip-off scheduled for 2 pm.
