By Lindsey Besecker
Assistant Sports Editor
Upsets are the common theme of this year’s NCAA basketball tournament.
The Pepperdine women’s basketball team, seeded eighth in the tournament, suffered its worst loss of the season at the hands of the No. 9 seed Villanova, 67-46. The lady Waves, who finished at 23-8, played their final game in front of 11,200 spectators, three times the number that fit into Firestone Fieldhouse, on Saturday in Norman, Okla.
There was no score for almost three minutes — until Villanova’s Trish Juhline broke the ice with a deuce at 17:25.
With that first basket Villanova took a lead that it would not relinquish for the remainder of the contest. Pepperdine did pull even at 14 after a two-pointer by junior Damaris Hinojosa with 7:25 left in the first half. A bucket by Mimi Riley put the Wildcats back on top for good.
Villanova’s strategy against the Waves included slowing the clock down. Many of their players did not shoot the ball until the shot clock had wound down to 10 seconds or less.
“They took us out of our game,” senior Nadja Morgan said.
Villanova’s plan of action worked well against Pepperdine, holding it to its lowest point total all season. The previous low had been 51 in a win over Portland in January.
When each team headed to the locker room at the break, the score was 26-16 in favor of Villanova. If the Waves had kept that pace, they would have scored only 32 points on the afternoon when all was said and done. The Wildcats scored 13 of their first-half points off of rebounds and went into the locker room after a 12-2 run.
“The offensive rebounding killed us,” Pepperdine head coach Mark Trakh said. “We had to somehow speed the game up and then execute our offense, which we didn’t do. I felt that Villanova did an excellent job executing their sets. We just got beat, plain and simple.”
The loss was a hard pill to swallow for the lady Waves, whose determination was evident after they finished the season as WCC Champions while beset by injuries.
In the second half, the Wildcats outscored the Waves 41-30. Sophomore Shannon Mayberry opened the half with a two-pointer to cut Villanova’s lead to eight.
The closest that the Waves ever came to the Wildcats in the second half was six with a two-pointer by junior Keani Christianson, which brought the score to 31-25.
In the second half, the Waves outscored the Wildcats on turnovers 9-6, but they did not score any off of turnovers in the first half.
Villanova out-rebounded the Waves 41-30, and the Wildcats collected 15 offensive rebounds while the Waves collected four.
“They crashed the boards real hard,” senior Sarah Richen said. “It wasn’t what we expected.”
Hinojosa led the Waves with 16 points, while Morgan was held to 10 points and 11 rebounds. Mayberry and Richen had six points each.
“They key to the game was how we defended Morgan,” Villanova head coach Harry Perretta said. “The game got into the pace we wanted it to. We’re very successful when we can keep the score under 60. In the second half, the pace became slower. As long as we don’t turn the ball over, it’s hard for the other team to catch up.”
Pepperdine only scored nine points off of turnovers, but Villanova scored 19 off of Pepperdine turnovers.
When questioned about Pepperdine in a pre-game press conference, Perretta said: “I think that their strength is that they play well together. They are a mirror image of us, except they may be a little stronger inside than us.”
The loss marked the last game for seniors Morgan, Richen and Jennifer Lakin.
“My only regret is that I won’t be playing with her (Richen) anymore after this,” Morgan said. “It’s been a blessing to be at Pepperdine. This year was a pinnacle for us.”
As for the rest of the team, they have next year to look forward to.
“The future looks good for us and the West Coast Conference,” Trakh said. “I thought our kids played hard. They didn’t quit.”
March 21, 2002