Despite the relative young age of the women’s basketball team the leading players bring experience and determination to the court posting an overall record of 15-9 and a conference record of 6-5. With two weeks left until the WCC Tournament first round in Las Vegas the Waves are making some solid preparations coming off of their 73-59 loss against Gonzaga on Saturday Feb. 12.
Averaging 65 points per game the Waves have found strong and consistent offensive presence in the junior-guard trio of Jazmine Jackson Katie Menton and Lauren Bell. The group average 10-12 points a piece per game and 22 plus steals.
Beginning the season in November Head Coach Julie Rousseau knew the post season would be “another dog” than the preseason games last semester. “Every team in our conference has lost key members but others have gotten healthier and brought in key additions she said in a preseason interview.
Junior Skye Barnett leads the team in rebounds, with a total of 66 nabbed in the conference alone. The guard trio posts another 133 rebounds with Jackson covering almost half with 63.
Despite a strong attack, the Waves typically scrape by in their wins, averaging a scoring margin of 1.5 points and 13 turnovers per game. Although they bounce back with 13 steals per game, the Waves fall a bit short of the collegiate women’s basketball block average of six per game, showing only two.
Defensively, sophomore Shay Cooney-Williams has stepped up as a strong defensive player and freshman offensive standout Robie Mayberry has given a lot of strength and energy to the Pepperdine line.
Barnett and Mayberry closely follow the trio in season points, but Jackson stands out as the season star, leading in points, assists per turnover, minutes played and second in rebounds.
As they return to finish their last conference season games at home, they take on LMU on Saturday, Feb. 19, at 2 p.m. before facing San Francisco and Santa Clara before the WCC Tournament starting on March 4.