MALIBU, Calif. – Marly Walls earned a career-high 27 points as the Pepperdine women's basketball team rolled past San Francisco 73-51 on Thursday night inside Firestone Fieldhouse.
 
Walls was a perfect 14-14 from the free throw line and shot a little under 50% from the field. Though the Waves (9-18, 4-13) fell behind by one point after the first quarter to the Dons (18-11, 8-9) a six-point scoring run put them on top and never let go of the lead. Pepperdine outshot San Francisco 43.6% to 23.8%.
 
BIG WAVES

• In addition to graduate guard Marly Walls' (Bardstown, Ky./Nelson County HS/Bucknell) career-high 27 points, she also brought down eight rebounds, two assists and two steals.
• Junior forward Jane Nwaba (Carson, Calif./Pacific Palisades HS) collected 12 points and had five rebounds. Nwaba tied her career-high in assists with five.
• Graduate forward Theresa Grace Mbanefo (Otsego, Minn./Blaine HS/Cornell) drained 10 points to go with six rebounds and three assists.
• Redshirt senior forward Becky Obinma (Menifee, Calif./Rosary Academy/TCU) put up 10 points and had eight rebounds. 

GAME RECAP
 
The Dons made back-to-back baskets in the first quarter to take an early 4-2 lead. After exchanging buckets for both squads, San Francisco made the last layup with three seconds left to take a 11-10 lead after the first 10 minutes.
 
In the second quarter, the opposition extended the advantage with a three-pointer, but a six-point run for the Waves flipped the lead to their favor at 16-14. Pepperdine then had eight consecutive points to increase the lead by nine at 27-18 heading into the break.
 
After the half, the Waves made the first basket, but the Dons answered with five straight to cut the deficit to six, 29-23. Pepperdine then had a seven-point scoring run to increase the lead to double-digits, 36-23. The opposition scored a bucket, but the Waves answered right back with nine straight to make it 45-25. San Francisco made one from long range, but with under a minute left the Waves added four more to the lead, 49-28.
 
In the final frame, the Waves and Dons went back-and-forth before USF went on a six-point scoring run to make it 56-39. With under six minutes left to play, Walls made four free throws to continue to extend the lead, 60-39. Both squads earned free throws, but the Waves blocked the last shot of the game to earn the victory.
 
STATS

• The Waves out-rebounded the Dons 55 to 41.
• San Francisco forced 22 Pepperdine turnovers compared to the Dons' 12.
• There were four lead changes and four times the Waves and Dons were tied.

UP NEXT
 
The Waves will host Santa Clara in its final WCC regular season game on Saturday, Feb. 23. Tip-off is set for 2 p.m. Prior to tip-off Pepperdine will honor its three seniors.