By Hailey Amato & Erica Sigman
Staff Writers
The NCAA tournament is considered the heaven of college basketball. Every team wants to get there.
The Pepperdine women’s basketball team is on their way.
It defeated Santa Clara 69-57 in the final round and the University of San Diego 62-53 the previous day to clinch the West Coast Conference championship.
The Waves improved their overall record to a solid 22-7 for the season. They finished 12-2 in conference play.
Sunday afternoon’s championship pitted the two most dominant teams in the conference. The Santa Clara Broncos faced the WCC season-champion Pepperdine squad after securing a one-point overtime win in the semifinals against Gonzaga.
“Wow. It’s hard to think of a word to describe how it feels to win,” Assistant Coach Derek Wynn said. “This victory carried a lot of emotion because of everything we’ve been through this season. We knew we could win, but it was so amazing when we finally did. This team really showed heart.”
The Waves capitalized on the Broncos’ fatigue from playing three games in three days.
“Our plan was to keep fresh bodies on the court and rotating players throughout the whole game,” Assistant Coach Jody Wynn said. “We tried to apply defense and wear down the eight players they rely heavily on.”
After a closely fought first half, the Waves’ tenacious defense in the last 20 minutes wore the Broncos down and allowed Pepperdine to make some big runs offensively.
The Broncos had a 50-44 lead with 8:03 remaining in the contest.
Sophomore forward Kelli Spencer was instrumental in the decisive last moments of the game. She led Pepperdine’s offense with 13 points in eight minutes.
“We knew that if we kept up our intensity we’d win,” Senior Keani Christianson said. “We didn’t panic or worry, we just knew we had to play our game.”
The Waves put the ball in the basket, going on a 25-7 scoring run.
“When I went back in the second half, we were down,” Spencer said. “I didn’t want to lose … I wasn’t going to lose.”
At the head of the final charge was Spencer, making five clutch shots.
Santa Clara put up a good fight in the last 3:12 minutes left, pulling within three points of the Waves at 57-54, but Pepperdine scored 10 unanswered points to seal the victory.
“There was never a point during that game that we thought we wouldn’t win,” Jody Wynn said. “We never believed we were down by too much.”
Christianson led all scorers for the second night with 16 points, nine rebounds, three assists and two steals.
“I felt that I needed to go out and play my best and help out my team,” Christianson said. “Whatever it takes to win is what I wanted to do.”
Senior Tamara McDonald added 10 points, six rebounds and three assists in the victory.
Following halftime, Pepperdine shot 50 percent to the Broncos’ 34.5 percent.
The Waves shot 20 of 29 from the charity stripe compared to Santa Clara’s six of 12.
As usual, Pepperdine’s defense was a key factor. The Waves out-powered the Broncos on the boards by a 36-29 margin.
The win gave Pepperdine a sweep over Santa Clara this season. Last season Santa Clara fell to Pepperdine in the conference championships 81-77.
“It’s an indescribable feeling,” Jody Wynn said. “We wanted this all year long. It was one of our biggest goals. When the buzzer went off it was electric. To see our seniors go off on top after what this team has been through, all the injuries, was wonderful. All their hard work and perseverance paid off. We’re one step closer to our next goal.”
In a ceremony shortly following the game, Christianson and Spencer grabbed All-Tournament honors.
The momentum for the WCC tournament was set after a commanding 62-53 victory over San Diego the previous day.
Pepperdine fell behind 16-4 in the first eight minutes of play.
“I thought we were pretty sluggish and a little rusty that night,” Derek Wynn said. “We hadn’t had a game in quite some time and it took us a half to wake up and start playing.”
At the half the contest was tied 25-25. The Waves came out anxious to break the tie and scored seven unanswered points to take over the lead. They never looked back.
Pepperdine made 40.4 percent of their field goals attempts and limited San Diego to 33.3 percent shooting. The Waves forced 25 turnovers, 15 in the last 20 minutes of play.
The Waves were led by Christianson who scored a career-high 22 points and eight rebounds.
Sophomore guard Shannel Law contributed 13 points, three rebounds, three assists and four steals in the semi-final game.
“We really didn’t play well at all,” Jody Wynn said. “It was an ugly game. Offensively and defensively we were just not in sync with the game plan. Keani had a excellent game to put us over the edge and lead us to victory.”
The standout play and leadership of senior Tamara McDonald was recognized last week when she was named WCC conference Player of the Year.
“That kid has come so far in her four years,” Jody Wynn said. “To get that award means more to the coaching staff than anyone can understand. This season McDonald led the team and matured on and off the court. She’s become a better floor leader and is the team leader defensively. We couldn’t be more happy for her to be Player of the Year.”
When the Waves’ leading scorer, Shandrika Lee, suffered a knee injury in December, McDonald was promoted to starting point guard. McDonald elevated her game to average 12.2 points, 4.5 rebounds, 1.6 assists and 1.8 steals over the 14 conference games.
Law was also selected to the all-conference team.
The Waves have faced multiple injuries throughout the season, but overall these setbacks have just served to strengthen this talented team.
“We’ve always been a close team,” Jody Wynn said. “Winning after going through adversity just brings a team closer. We’ve won close games, battled back from being down, and we know what it feels like to lose. Knowing we’ve captured a championship together makes these girls believe in themselves and each other even more going into the NCAA tournament.”
Having conquered the initial goal of being conference champions, now it is time to raise the bar. The team strives to make it past the first round in the NCAA tournament, something that has never been done before in Pepperdine women’s basketball history.
“There’s no telling how far we go,” Spencer said. “We don’t have anything to lose.”
Saturday the Waves find out what team they’ll face in the first round of the NCAA tournament. They are confident that this phenomenal season is not quite over. They hold the key.
“We’ve found an identity,” Jody Wynn said. “We’ve found what it takes to be champions.”
Because they were regular season champs, Pepperdine received two byes in the conference tournament.
“I think it’s a nice reward for teams that win night in and night out during the regular season,” Jody Wynn said. “Because of all our injuries we are down to nine players, three who are playing with a torn meniscus. The extra days off were really beneficial to us.”
March 13, 2003