Pepperdine Women’s Basketball is on a roll.
Women’s Basketball took on California State University, Northridge at Premier America Credit Union Arena on Nov. 27 walking away with a dominant 84-58 win. It was a career-high night for multiple Waves with the team picking up their third straight win, taking two of the three wins on enemy turf.
Leading the way for the Waves were senior guard Malia Mastora and Megan Harkey, senior forward/center and Graphic sports staff writer, who both ended the night with a career high in points, 18 and 16 respectively.
To open the game, Head Coach Katie Faulkner serviced Malia, Harkey, graduate guards Ornela Muca and Ella Brubaker and senior guard Makena Mastora. With this starting five, the Waves’ slow start woes were put to rest, however, the first quarter wouldn’t be easy for the Waves.
CSUN began the scoring with a three-pointer seven seconds into the match, but Malia immediately responded with a three-pointer of her own, followed by a layup in the paint by Harkey for a 5-3 Waves lead.
With this early lead, the Waves kept adding on, securing six straight points to place the game at 12-6 Pepperdine, but the Matadors were just getting started.
Another three-pointer from CSUN resulted in a slight momentum shift, as the Matadors went on to score seven unanswered points for a 12-13 lead. The lead would swap twice more until freshman guard Chloe Sotell joined in on the fun with a three-pointer to regain the lead 18-17, and from here the Waves held on to the lead for the remainder of the first, ending 21-20.
Defense was all Pepperdine needed to start the second. A block by Malia, rebounds in the paint by Harkey and defense under the rim thwarted any points CSUN tried to score. For over three straight minutes, the Pepperdine defense held the Matadors scoreless, allowing the Waves to jump out to a 26-20 lead.
The Mastora sisters paved the way for Pepperdine this quarter, with an and-one from Malia and two jumpers from Makena widening their lead to 30-22. The Matadors would battle from here, keeping their deficit to a maximum of six points, 34-28, until the Waves’ Big 3 of this match came back into the game.
With less than two minutes remaining in the first half, Malia swished a three, Harkey fought through the paint for a layup and Brubaker got her jumper to fall to bring the Waves’ lead to 41-28. CSUN would get awarded two free throws following a last-second foul by the Waves to end to the first half 41-30.
With this lead, Pepperdine kept their feet on the gas pedal.
CSUN would score two three-pointers in the first five minutes of the third, but the Waves’ momentum never faltered. Harkey answered back to the Matadors’ threes with a layup in the paint, with Brubaker following up with a three-pointer and layup of her own to kickstart the Waves’ third.
The Big 3 continued to show out this quarter. Malia scored five points, two blocks and an assist, Harkey scored six points, a rebound, block and assist and Brubaker scored seven points and a block.
Muca and senior position Helena Friend would each pick up two points as well to end the third with a 17 points Waves lead, 67-50.
From here, Pepperdine stormed over the Matadors, with the Big 3 opening the fourth with 12 points in the first five minutes, only allowing CSUN to score three, jumping out to a 79-53 lead.
Sotell and Friend rounded out the fourth with a three-pointer and layup, respectively, to end the commanding 84-58 win over CSUN.
Five Waves recorded double digit points. Malia led the team with 18, Harkey followed with 16, Brubaker ended with 14, Sotell finished with 12 and Friend’s last-minute layup brought her total to 10.
Not only was the offense shining, the defense did as well. Everyone on the team recorded a rebound, but Makena set the tone with eight and Malia and Harkey followed up with seven a piece. Harkey and Malia were pests on the court, blocking six and five shots, respectively.
Pepperdine also set many of their teammates up for success this match, with Makena dishing five assists and Malia, Harkey and Muca finding four.
Faulkner has said in the past that free throws are an area of importance for the Waves as they progress throughout the season. Over their last six matches, the Waves have failed to get free throws to fall consistently, with their best free throw percentage of 82.6% (18-23) occurring Nov. 7 over the University of California, Riverside.
This game was their best since, getting 10-14 free throws to land, good for a free throw percentage of 71.4%, all according to Pepperdine Athletics.
The Waves will look to build their win streak on the road once more Dec. 1 against Long Beach State University at The Walter Pyramid, before returning home Dec. 6 for a matchup with the University of Nevada at Firestone Fieldhouse.
The Waves have yet to be beaten on home soil.
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Email Justin Rodriguez: justin.rodriguez@pepperdine.edu
