By Michael Hurlbut
Assistant Sports Editor
Despite a 78-69 loss at St. Mary’s last Saturday evening, the Waves are virtually in the same position last week as they are this week. They still hold a one-game lead in the conference over Santa Clara. They have four more games, splitting the time between home and the road. Still, it’s one game at a time for these girls.
Friday night’s matchup is against Portland, which possesses the WCC Player of the Week in Khalilia O’Rielly-Williams. She posted five double-doubles this season and had 35 points last weekend in the Pilots’ upset victory over Santa Clara.
“We just have to stop her,” Mayberry said. “She won’t get open shots against us.”
On Saturday the Waves will host their final home contest of the season. The Waves will face-off against cellar-dweller Gonzaga, but the Bulldogs are not to be taken lightly.
“They play hard and they go hard to the boards,” freshman center Jennifer Lacy said. Historically, the Waves lead the series between the two schools 20-10.
Parity seems to have finally been reached in women’s basketball in the West Coast Conference last weekend.
Sixth-place Portland was the only team to win two games over the weekend. Last place Gonzaga was the only team to lose two games everyone else split series. Pepperdine traveled up north to the Bay Area to face off against San Francisco and St. Mary’s and came home with a 1-1 record. Yet nothing changed in the standings since last week.
Second-place Santa Clara was shocked by Portland 80-73 and LMU put the hurt on third-place St. Mary’s in an 81-79 thriller. The lady Waves handed USF its fifth loss of the season to the tune of 73-57 behind an impressive shooting performance from senior center Nadja Morgan.
Morgan had27 points and nine rebounds. She was also a perfect 7 of 7 from the free throw line as they Waves continued to shoot steadily from the charity stripe. The team was a hot 19 of 21 on the night for foul shots.
Although the Waves were down by three at the half, 28-25, they rallied in the second half with the help of 25 Don turnovers to take the road win.
Saturday night against the Gaels was a different story. Only eight players were available for the Waves due to injuries, which left the bench to contend with St. Mary’s athleticism.
Lee was the top scorer for the Waves, tossing in 20 to keep it close. Hinojosa never came out the entire game and added 16 points on a 5 of 10 shooting performance from behind the three-point arc. After posting huge numbers the night before, Morgan was held to only seven points and 11 rebounds.
The Dosty twins were once again the driving force behind the Gaels’ game as Jerkisha threw down 23 points while Jermisha knocked down 14 points and grabbed 13 rebounds.
The Waves were also hurt by an uncharacteristic 10 of 16 shooting performance from the free throw line as well as a 27-16 mismatch in personal fouls.
The lady Waves are closer to their goal of a WCC Championship, but it will take everything they have left to complete the season on top of the teams in their wake.
February 14, 2002