MALIBU, Calif. — Rallying from an early 20-4 deficit, the Pepperdine women's basketball team used a decisive 16-0 third-quarter run and stifling second-half defense to put away the UC Irvine 63-58 on opening night.

Pepperdine held UC Irvine — which was picked second in the Big West preseason polls after winning 25 games a year ago — to 28.6% shooting from the field and a meager 27.3% from three. Offensively, Pepperdine connected on 50% of its field goals, seven Waves scored and the team dished out 16 assists to UC Irvine's nine.

"I thought our defensive intensity stepped up," Interim head coach Kelsey Keizer said. "We got caught on our heels to start. Give UC Irvine credit. They're a really good team and they won the Big West last year — and they looked like it to start the game. But we settled in, we played with a lot of intensity and we allowed our defense to give our offense some more energy."

 

The win not only gave the Waves (1-0) six straight home-opening wins, but also marked Interim Keizer's first win as a Division I head coach.

 

BIG WAVES

• Myra Gordon (L.D. Bell HS/Fort Worth, Texas) stuffed the stat sheet, leading the Waves with 17 points (on 6-for-10 shooting), four rebounds, five assists and five steals. 

• Point guard Addi Melone (Las Vegas, Nev./Centennial HS) added 11 points, six rebounds and four assists playing in her first Division I game.

• Senior Jane Nwaba (Carson, Calif. Palisades Charter HS) nearly had a double-double with nine points and a team-high 11 rebounds.

• Sophomore KK Brodie (Columbia, Mo./Rock Bridge HS) chipped in seven points, three steals and two blocks off the bench.

 

UC Irvine set the tone early on defense, as its full-court press and sideline trap helped the Anteaters take an early 12-0 lead in less than four minutes. Gordon scored the Waves' first points of the season on a left-handed layup at the 5:43 mark, but the Anteaters responded with another 8-2 run — interrupted only by a layup from Maggie Vick (Morristown, Tenn./Lakeway Christian HS). 

Trailing 22-10 heading into the second quarter, the Waves got a spark from Brodie, who checked in with 5:42 to go in the quarter and immediately changed the tenor of the game. In the second quarter alone, Brodie had four points and two steals, which helped spur Pepperdine's defensive resurgence. Defensively, the Waves held the Anteaters scoreless for the final 4 minutes and 51 seconds of the first half, which helped them pull within three, 30-27, at halftime.

The Anteaters struck first in the third quarter with a pair of threes from Nikki Tom in the first two minutes, yet the Waves' defense rallied from that point forward. Pepperdine held UCI to 2-for-17 (11.8%) shooting from the field, which was instrumental in the Waves making their comeback.

Spurred on by a fast-break layup by freshman Jorynn Ross (Milwaukee, Wisc./Summer Creek HS) with 6:32 left in the third quarter, the Waves went on a 16-0 run that flipped the script of the game. Pepperdine took its first lead of the night off of a three from Emerita Mashaire (Helsinki, Finland/HBA Marsky) to make it a 40-38 game, then more threes from Melone and Mashaire, plus a layup from Vick helped push Pepperdine's lead to 48-38. With under a minute to go in the quarter, the Anteaters snapped their scoreless streak with a pair a free throws, but Melone's third three of the quarter put UCI at arm's length.

Leading 51-43 in the fourth, the Waves withstood a 6-0 run from UC Irvine, but an and-one opportunity from Nwaba fired up the Waves' bench. The Anteaters would pull within four points on a layup from Neveah Dean with 5:39 to go, but the Waves countered with another jumper from Brodie to make it a 60-53 ballgame in favor of Pepperdine.

UC Irvine had one more run in them however; the Anteaters sped up the Waves and pulled within two points on a 5-0 run to make it a one-possession game. With a 60-58 lead, the Waves forced a critical five-second call with 27 seconds to go, then free-throws from Gordon and Mashaire iced the game.
 

UP NEXT: The Waves' three-game homestand continues on Thursday, Nov. 9 at 6 p.m., as Pepperdine hosts New Mexico. Tickets can be purchased at tickets.pepperdinewaves.com.