A season after the Waves captured the WCC tournament championship, the team again faces adversity as players recover from injuries
By Kyle Jorrey
Sports Editor
Pepperdine women’s basketball Head Coach Mark Trakh created his team’s upcoming schedule this past off-season with high expectations. And for good reason.
He was returning 10 letter winners and three starters from a team that went 23-8, won the regular season WCC title with a record of 11-3 and went on to capture its first WCC tournament championship. They also earned the second NCAA tournament birth in team history before losing to Villanova in the first round.
With his team’s record-breaking season fresh in mind, he felt comfortable to fill its 2002-2003 schedule with such big time opponents as Xavier, Arizona, USC, UCLA, Oklahoma State and Stanford. He even threw in an away match with women’s basketball powerhouse the Connecticut Huskies.
But Trakh forgot to plan for one thing — injuries. And now it seems of all this season’s challenges for the Waves, this might be the one most difficult to overcome.
“We made an excellent schedule under the impression that we’d be at full strength, and we’re not,” Trakh said. “Now all we can do is just wait it out and pray, and hope they’ll all heal.”
Possibly the most severe and most damaging injury is to junior center/forward Shannon Mayberry, who is out for the season with a stress fracture in her right leg. A force in the lane, Mayberry is an effective shot-blocker, coming into this season ranked fifth on the Waves career blocked shot list with 89.
“She’s a game-breaker,” Trakh said.
Another key injury is to talented senior guard Damaris Hinojosa, a three-time All WCC selection who is coming off her best season with the Waves in which she lead the team in scoring with a 13.6 per-game average. Hinojosa, who was named the MVP of last year’s WCC Tournament, is recovering from back surgery she underwent in April.
Though she’s participating in practice, she may not be at full strength for weeks. She expects to be ready to go by the start of the Waves’ season.
Also suffering on the injured list are senior forward Anna Lembke with a stress fracture in her hip, senior forward Keani Christianson recovering from surgery to repair a torn meniscus in her knee, sophomore forward Jen Lacey, who’s out until January because of knee surgery, sophomore forward Kelli Spencer who is recovering from a torn anterior cruciate ligament in her knee, junior guard Nicole Funn with chronic ankle problems and Tamara McDonald who is suffering tendonitis in her knees.
As of this Monday, the team had only four players at full strength, a factor that is making preseason preparation difficult.
“The coaches have practiced more than the kids,” Trakh joked. “You have to laugh about something like this or else it will make you cry.”
If all goes well, the Waves could be at full strength (minus Mayberry) by the start of their season in January. At that time, Pepperdine will field a team that won 20 of its last 24 games and knocked off big-time programs like Alabama and George Washington.
Looking to pick up the slack early in the season, the Waves’ group of athletic guards should help the team to contend with many of its top-ranked opponents.
“Our guards are our strength,” Traukh said.
According to her coach, junior guard Shandrika Lee is “one of the quickest point guards in the league.” After starting all 30 games in which she played last season, Lee should help anchor the team’s offense with her ability to score and pass. Last year she finished third on the team in scoring with an average of10.2 points per game and dished out 2.4 assists a game.
She’ll receive help from McDonald and Funn, whom may be equally fast, and even stronger than Lee. McDonald, a tough defensive player who worked in the off-season to improve her outside shooting, is a spirited player and one of the team’s most vocal leaders.
“She is always the one heard first on the court,” Assistant Coach Mike Hurlbut said. “There’s not a drill that goes by in which she’s not yelling everyone’s name and supporting everyone. She’s behind everyone on this team 100 percent.”
Essential to its success, the team is relying on Hinojosa and Lembke, who missed all of last season due to injury, to get healthy and put up big numbers.
“Hinojosa’s basically the cornerstone that we build our entire offense around,” Hurlbut said.
As a member of the constantly improving WCC, the Waves will have their work set out for them to repeat as conference champs. Their stiffest competition should come from fellow NCAA tournament qualifier Santa Clara and from St. Mary’s and Loyola Marymount. Gonzaga is also expected to see vast improvement.
“The conference is tougher across the board,” Trakh said. “There isn’t one easy game out of the whole bunch. It’s going to be real tough.”
With less than a month before their season opener against Xavier at Firestone Fieldhouse, the Waves’ players and coaches are trying to make the best of a difficult situation. After receiving national recognition from last year’s performance, the team still has its sights set on a repeat WCC Championship and a repeat visit to the round of 64.
“We just want to go out and play the best we can,” Trakh said. “Our philosophy is to take every game one possession at a time, and that’s what we’re going to do.”
October 31, 2002