The Pepperdine women's basketball team fell into foul trouble early in the second half as the Waves were unable to climb out of a first half deficit, falling 60-76 in the Sobrato Center Saturday afternoon.
 
Out-shooting the Dons (8-6, 6-0) from behind the arc, the Waves (6-7, 1-4) would not be able to make up ground in the paint.
 
BIG WAVES
 
Freshman Chloe Sotell (Samford, Conn.) was once again the leading scorer among the squad, netting 16 points with four rebounds and three assists.
 
Senior Makena Mastora (Alameda, Calif.) tied her season high of 13 points, including a team-high three from distance. With four rebounds in today's game, Mastora enters the top-25 in the conference through all games this season, averaging 4.6 a game.
 
Senior Emerita Mashaire (Helsinki, Finland) broke out for her best performance of the season with 11 points and seven rebounds, leading the team.
 
 
KEY STATS
 
Five blocks by the Dons, compared to the Waves zero, gave the opponent momentum in key possessions.
 
Twenty points in the paint would not be enough to hold up against San Francisco as they were good over 42.
 
The Waves outscored the Dons by six 20-14 in the third quarter to keep the game within striking distance.
 
RECAP
 
Shots were not falling for the Waves early on. The first field goal for Pepperdine would come with over half of the first quarter gone. Sotell and Mastora made back-to-back threes to give the offense a new life heading into the remainder of the game. After one, the Waves trailed 11-19.
 
The second quarter started similarly for Pepperdine and a 13-2 run by San Francisco put the Dons up 19 with six to go to halftime. As the third Wave to sink one from three, Mashaire got her first bucket of the game to cut the deficit to 16. The Finland native scored the next five unanswered, but the Dons would respond before the half was up and Pepperdine headed to the locker room down 23-42.
 
Pepperdine refused to go down without a fight. Opening the second half on a 10-0 scoring tear, both Sotell and Malia Mastora (Alameda, Calif.) hit a three while seniors Ella Brubaker (University Place, Wash) and Maggie Vick (Morristown, Tenn.) got two points of their own.
 
All momentum halted for the Waves when multiple players found themselves on the verge of fouling out. Sotell and Vick both had four, while Mashaire had three. With ten minutes left, Pepperdine trailed 43-56.
 
Makena and Sotell combined for the majority of the scoring in the final minutes, netting 12 of the total 17. Overall, Pepperdine outscored the Dons in the second half 37-34, but could not overcome the first half woes.
 
The Waves fell to the Dons 60-76.
 
UP NEXT
 
Pepperdine is back home this week, playing the Portland Pilots Thursday night. Tipoff is scheduled for 6 p.m. and the game can be streamed on ESPN+, Tickets for the game are available at tickets.pepperdinewaves.com