Matching her Pepperdine career-high with 20 points, senior Ella Brubaker (University Place, Wash.) led the Waves women's basketball team to a thrilling 55-52 overtime win over UC Riverside Monday night.
 
The Waves (3-2) now stand a perfect 2-0 at home, with both wins coming in high-pressure situations. Pepperdine trailed by five at the half, but made up the difference in the third quarter. After eleven points apiece for both squads in the fourth, the Waves raced the Highlanders (1-4) to a thrilling overtime finish.
 
Brubaker dropped 20 in the game- tying her highest against a Division I opponent- including nine in the fourth quarter to push the game to extra time. The final three points that sealed the deal for the home team would all come from free throws.
 
BIG WAVES
 
Senior Brubaker had three rebounds and two steals on top of her impressive night on offense.
 
Graduate Malia Mastora (Alameda, Calif.) shot .500 from the field and was perfect from the free-throw line, playing in all but four minutes of the night. 
 
Senior Megan Harkey (Summerfield, N.C.) had a team-high seven rebounds and two assists to accompany her seven points. 
 
KEY STATS
 
The Waves outshot the Highlanders from the field, good for a shooting percentage of 40.4% compared to Riverside's 30%.
 
Scoring over triple the opponent on fastbreak opportunities, Pepperdine outscored UC Riverside 17-5.
 
Pepperdine continued to rely on its bench, with 29 of the team's 55 points coming outside the starting five.
 
RECAP
 
Offense got off to a slow start for the Waves and the Highlanders. With 19 combined points, both squads were looking to get into a groove. The Mastora sisters from Alameda, Calif. scored all 10 of the Waves' first quarter points, with each sister sinking five. Makena made the team's only three of the night while Malia got to work in the paint, getting two layups and sinking her free throw.
 
With just nine points in the second quarter, the Waves only netted seven field goals in the entire first half. The Highlanders were able to take advantage and saw their biggest lead all night with just under four to go in the half and leading by nine thanks to turnovers and lack of rebounds on Pepperdine's half of the stat sheet.
 
At half, the Waves trailed 19-24.
 
Making up the five-point deficit in a hurry, Pepperdine got to work. Harkey led the team in the third, putting up six points. The offense was spread throughout the team with six different Waves scoring in the third quarter and 17 points later, the game was all tied up at 36 with ten minutes to go.
 
Outside of a layup from graduate Ornela Muca (Athens, Greece), Brubaker accounted for every point in the fourth quarter. Just like in the Waves' first win in Firestone Fieldhouse this season, the Washington native proved clutch in big moments. With just over seven seconds left, Pepperdine called a timeout, trailing by two. With the game on the line, the Waves came out of the timeout and executed the ideal inbounds play as Makena passed the ball to Brubaker who drove from the corner straight to the other side of the rim, putting up the perfect layup to send the game to overtime.
 
Going into overtime, all momentum was on the Waves side. Brubaker scored the first five points of the period and with the help of free throws from Makena and Muca, Pepperdine secured a 55-52 victory.
 
This is Pepperdine's second win in three days as well as their second win at home. The Waves now lead the overall series with the Highlanders 15-4.
 
 
UP NEXT
 
Pepperdine has the week off, traveling to Northridge Wednesday, November 27 to face CSUN. Tip-off is scheduled for 2 p.m.