LAS VEGAS, Nev. – The Pepperdine women's basketball completed the comeback and downed Santa Clara 63-60 in the first round of the University Credit Union West Coast Conference Basketball Tournament at the Orleans Arena on Thursday afternoon.
 
The Waves (11-18) were down against the Broncos (15-17) in the first three and a half quarters, but a big 25-13 fourth quarter was the difference to propel Pepperdine over Santa Clara to advance.
 
In the final frame, Pepperdine and Santa Clara exchanged baskets, before Jane Nwaba made two consecutive baskets to put the Waves within five of the Broncos, 55-50. Another four straight points for Pepperdine had them within one at 59-58. In the final 35 seconds of the game, Pepperdine had a five-point scoring run, courtesy of a huge three-point play by Becky Obinma (Menifee, Calif./Rosary Academy/TCU) and two made free throws by Marly Walls to complete the comeback and earn the victory to advance to the second round of the tournament.
 
Pepperdine completed the full three game sweep over Santa Clara having defeated the Broncos twice during the regular season.
 
BIG WAVES

• Junior forward Jane Nwaba (Carson, Calif./Palisades Charter HS) drained a career-high 17 points. Nwaba also brought down seven rebounds and had five assists.
• Graduate transfer guard Marly Walls (Bardstown, Ky./Nelson County HS/Bucknell) also had 17 points and dished out seven assists. Walls was a perfect 9-for-9 at the free throw line.
• Graduate transfer forward Theresa Grace Mbanefo (Otsego, Minn./Blaine HS/Cornell) collected 10 points and eight rebounds.
• Freshman center KK Brodie (Columbia, Mo./Rock Bridge HS) led the Waves in rebounds with nine. She also had four points.

GAME RECAP
 
The Waves scored the first basket of the game, but the Broncos countered with a seven-point scoring run to take a 7-2 lead. Pepperdine then had a six-point scoring run to take the lead at 10-9, but Santa Clara answered with eight straight to take the lead back. Walls made four straight free throws to close out the first quarter and cut the deficit to three, 17-14.
 
In the second quarter, the Broncos scored seven consecutive points to get their lead to double-digits, 24-14. Walls made a layup that turned into a three-point play to make it 26-19. Tess Heal of Santa Clara put up back-to-back buckets to give the Broncos a 30-19 lead heading into the break.
 
Following the break, the Broncos and Waves went back-and-forth only having scoring runs of four points, but with less than five seconds left in the quarter, Nwaba drained a three to cut the opposition's advantage to nine, at 47-38.
 
After overcoming the deficit, the Waves ended the round with the victory to advance.
 
STATS

• The Waves out-rebounded the Broncos 41 to 32.
• Santa Clara out-shot Pepperdine 42.4% to 37.1%.
• The Broncos forced 12 Waves' turnovers.
• There were four lead changes and three times that Santa Clara and Pepperdine were tied.

 
UP NEXT
 
The Waves will play number five-seeded BYU in the second round of the UCU WCC Tournament in Las Vegas, Nev. at the Orleans Arena. Tip-off is scheduled for 12 p.m. The game will be broadcasted on Bally Sports family of networks, as well as by both BYUtv and WCCsports.com – with no geo-restrictions.