TAYLOR BIRD
Sports Assistant
The Pepperdine women’s basketball team settled for a split in the opening weekend of the 2007/2008 season, earning a 70-38 home victory over Cal State Northridge Friday in the season opener before suffering a 70-59 road loss at the hands of Iowa State on Sunday.
On Friday, The Waves (1-1) took advantage of a struggling Matador defense early to open up a 31-10 lead with 5:15 left in the first half. Northridge began to creep a bit closer but still went into halftime trailing 37-19.
Pepperdine began the second half with a 16-4 scoring run and put the game away with just over seven minutes remaining in the game, courtesy of freshman guard Katie Menton’s three-pointer that increased the Waves’ lead to 64-27.
Junior Alisha Bryant added three two-pointers in the final seven minutes for the final score of 70-38.
“It’s always good to start the season off with a win,” Pepperdine Head Coach Julie Rousseau said. “It’s not the best start, but it’s a good start. We’re going in the right direction – that’s for sure.”
Senior guard Daphanie Kennedy was the team’s top scorer, shooting 9-of-22 from the field to tally 22 points and 10 rebounds. She also had three assists and two steals while shooting a perfect 3-3 from the foul line.
Among the other big contributors for the Waves were junior guard Jessica Ross with 11 points, four rebounds, and four steals. Bryant also finished up the game with 11 points, and senior center Teiosha George had eight points and 12 rebounds in the winning effort.
“I think the first game says a lot about us,” George said. “We played really hard. We had a couple turnovers, but I think we picked it up. Our bench came in and did a good job. We just played together as a team.”
Pepperdine got off to a sluggish start in Sunday’s game and quickly found itself in a 12-0 hole. The Waves committed four turnovers in the first five minutes and shot just 17.4 percent from the field in the first half to fall behind 38-12 to Iowa.
The offense started rolling after halftime and the Waves outscored their opponent 47-32 in the second half. They shot 47.1 percent in the half, helped by 13 points from Kennedy and 12 from Menton. But this proved to be too little too late for Pepperdine and they were defeated 70-59 despite the comeback attempt.
Kennedy was the top scorer for the second game in a row. She shot 5-of-16 from the field and 6-of-6 from the line for a total of 17 points to go along with four rebounds and one assist.
Menton ended the game with 15 points, including four three-pointers and four steals. Sophomore forward Teena Wickett just missed a double-double with 10 points and nine rebounds. George contributed seven points and six rebounds in the loss.
The Waves return home tomorrow to host Cal State Bakersfield for a 7 p.m. match-up at Firestone Fieldhouse.
11-15-2007
