DENTON, Texas — The Pepperdine women's basketball team and North Texas were knotted at 47-all in the third quarter, yet a slow start to the fourth quarter doomed the Waves in a 74-57 loss on Friday night.

The game featured 10 ties and seven lead changes before the Mean Green (7-1) delivered the knockout blow to the Waves (2-7) with a 10-0 run in the first four minutes of the fourth quarter. All told, Pepperdine committed 10 of its 27 turnovers in the final frame.

Addi Melone (Las Vegas, Nev./Centennial HS) and Ella Brubaker (University Place, Wash. Curtis HS)  finished with 13 points apiece, while Jorynn Ross (Milwaukee, Wisc./Summer Creek HS) had a career-high 8 points to go along with three rebounds, an assist and a block off the bench. As a team, Pepperdine connected on 42.6% of its field goals and went 7-for-20 (35%) from beyond the arc.

BIG WAVES

• Brubaker scored her 13 points on 4-for-7 shooting from the field and an impressive 3-for-4 (75%) from three. She also had four rebounds and a team-high three steals.

• Melone scored seven of her 13 points in the first quarter and also finished with four assists and a steal.

• Jane Nwaba (Carson, Calif. Palisades Charter HS) led the team with 11 rebounds while also chipping in six points, three assists and a steal.

• Playing in the state in which she finished up her prep basketball career, Ross went 4-for-7 from the field, had three rebounds an assist and a block in 23 minutes of action.

KEY STATS

• Pepperdine out-rebounded North Texas 35-29. 

• The Waves led by as many as 11 points in the second half.

• North Texas came into the game leading the nation in free throw attempts, and the Mean Green stayed true to form by going 17-for-20 from the line. Pepperdine was a perfect 4-for-4 from the charity stripe.

• North Texas forward Tommisha Lampkin led all scorers with 28 points on 11-for-15 shooting. All of her points came from inside the arc and the free-throw line.

Pepperdine started off hot by making back-to-back baskets en route to a 50% shooting first quarter. Melone's three was a sign of a productive frame to come; she scored 7 points on 50% shooting from the field in the first 10 minutes alone. Senior center Megan Harkey (Summerfield, N.C./Northwest Guilford HS) made her first two baskets of the game to help put Pepperdine up 7-5, yet neither team budged in the back-and-forth first quarter.

Tied 17-all after the first ten minutes of play, Pepperdine got a spark with a barrage of threes from Maggie Vick (Morristown, Tenn./Lakeway Christian HS) and Brubaker, the latter of whom came off the bench and nailed back-to-back threes to help the Waves pull ahead 26-18. Pepperdine continued to work it inside, as Nwaba found Harkey underneath for two, then Ross checked in and put Pepperdine up 10 with 6 minutes and 12 seconds in the half. The Waves got their largest lead of the night twice — first off free throws from Brubaker and then off a layup from Fort Worth, Texas native Myra Gordon (Fort Worth, Texas/L.D. Bell HS).

Pepperdine led 36-27 at half but Mean Green forward Tommisha Lampkin willed the hosts back in the game by scoring 10 of North Texas' first 12 points of the third quarter. The Waves tried keeping the Mean Green at bay with layups from Nwaba and Emerita Mashaire (Helsinki, Finland/HBA Marksy), plus another Melone three, but the offense went cold. North Texas out-shot Pepperdine 56.3% to 33.3% to tie the game at 43-all with 3 minutes and 19 seconds to go. A pair of free throws from Vick capped off the scoring for the Waves, then North Texas scored on its final possession of the quarter to make it a 47-47 ballgame.

Then, the game unraveled.

The Mean Green opened the fourth quarter on an 8-0 run, prompting a Waves timeout. It would be the knockout blow. Turnovers out of the timeout led to more North Texas points; the Mean Green took a 57-47 lead with nearly seven minutes to go and didn't look back as it handed Pepperdine a 74-57 loss.