MALIBU, CALIF. –  The Pepperdine women's basketball team jumped ahead early, but fell behind in the middle two quarters to lose to Washington State 49-57.
 
The Waves (8-20, 3-16) had a narrow three point lead after the opening ten minutes, but the Cougars (19-12, 14-6) came back with a vengeance in the following 20 minutes and despite an even performance in the fourth, Pepperdine lost 49-57.
 
BIG WAVES
 
Freshman Chloe Sotell (Samford, Conn.) scored nine, dishing out a team-high four assists and grabbing five.
 
Senior Maggie Vick (Morristown, Tenn.) also scored nine with four rebounds.
 
Senior Ella Brubaker (University Place, Wash.) was the final Wave with a team-leading nine points, netting her only shot from distance and shooting a perfect 4-for-4 from the charity line.
 
KEY STATS
 
The Cougars out-rebounded the Waves 47-39.
 
Pepperdine shot .344 from the field compared to Washington State's .410.
 
Both teams were comparable shooting from distance, with the Cougars holding the slight advantage .348 to .333. 
 
RECAP
 
Nearly two minutes into the game, Vick would have Pepperdine's first points on two free throws to tie the game 2-2. Exchanging baskets with Washington State, five points from Sotell kept Pepperdine in front with a narrow 7-6 lead. Senior Ornela Muca (Athens, Greece) hit her first of two from distance to close out the quarter as Pepperdine led 14-11.
 
With four threes pointers in the second quarter, Washington State shot .571 from deep to give them the lead heading into halftime. Brubaker led the squad with five as Pepperdine trailed in a one-possession game, 25-27 at the break.
 
The Cougars stayed on a hot streak in the third quarter, scoring three from beyond the arc to extend Washington State's lead to eight as Vick scored five to keep the Waves in the game. With one quarter to go, Pepperdine was down 36-44.
 
Throughout the fourth quarter, the Waves' deficit fluctuated, stretching to as much as 10 with 5:57 left to go in the quarter. Responding with seven straight points, including a three from senior Makena Mastora (Alameda, Calif.), it was a one possession game with 4:04 to go.
 
Four straight points by the Cougars stretched their lead back out to seven. No points from either team for over two minutes only gave the Waves 36 seconds to work with to find seven points. Despite bringing it back within one possession with 24 seconds left thanks to free throws by Brubaker and Mastora, Pepperdine simply ran out of time as Washington State iced the game with free throws, defeating Pepperdine 57-49.
 
UP NEXT
 
The Waves close out the regular season in Firestone Fieldhouse this Saturday against Oregon State with a tipoff time of 1 p.m. The game will be streamed on ESPN+ (subscription required) and stats can be found on www.pepperdinewaves.com