The women’s basketball team won its eighth straight victory over Santa Clara at Firestone Fieldhouse this past weekend with a final score of 67-57. It marked the team’s fourth straight year of sweeping the Santa Clara Lady Broncos.
Led by senior guard and Oakland native Jazmine Jackson, who scored 16 points overall the Lady Waves showed impressive grit and gutted out a close victory over what appeared to be a very hungry Santa Clara basketball team. Despite the final scores suggestion, this basketball game was very close and competitive throughout.
The Waves, while sporting their classic throwback jerseys in honor of Pepperdine’s 75th anniversary, put forth an exceptional defensive effort that is often preached by Head Coach Julie Rousseau.
The team did a great job on the nations 3rd best scorer senior guard Alyssa Shoji who before the game led all NCAA players with the highest three-point percentage efficiency and the most three-pointers made per game. This may change for her after this game after the swarming Waves defense held her to a measly one for eight shooting from long range.
In fact, the Lady Waves performed impressively as a team and held Santa Clara to a total of 57 points, which is 14 points fewer then what the Santa Clara women’s basketball team averages on the season (71.6 points per game).
The first half of the game proved to be a tug of war, with each team not leading by more than four points at any point in the half. The teams fought over the lead. Pepperdine forced an impressive 10 turnovers, six of which were steals in the first half of the game. At the end of the first half, the Lady Waves were down by two points.
The defensive struggle theme quickly changed by the beginning of the second half with both teams firing and knocking down shots. However, Pepperdine’s paint dominance would prevail and help them stretch their lead and slow down Santa Clara’s offense.
The Waves were able to stretch their lead midway through the second half thanks to a 6-0 run lead by senior forward Skye Barnett. Junior forward Kelsey Patrick added 10 of her season high 13 points.
The team would hold the lead for the rest of the game and showed true ability in closing out a basketball game. Senior forward Lauren Bell led the way and showed her veteran composure in making six free throws to close out the game helping her finish with 14 points second highest behind team scoring leader Jazmine Jackson.
The Lady Waves, who are now 4-2 within the conference thanks to the victory, put themselves on track with the tops of the conference in newcomer BYU, Gonzaga, Saint Mary’s and San Diego.
The team must first take care of business on Jan. 19 against the 3-16 San Francisco Dons. After that, team’s next three games are against the top teams of the conference. It starts with a match-up against Saint Mary’s on Jan. 21. Those games have the ability to solidify the Lady Waves as a top tier basketball team in the West Coast Conference.