By Hailey Amato
Staff Writer
In the first round of the Women’s National Invitational Tournament on Friday, the Pepperdine women’s basketball team found itself in a hole too deep to dig out of.
The Waves fell 71-59 to the University of Washington after missing 14 free-throws for the night to close their season with a 17-13 overall record.
“Obviously there were things we could have done better,” assistant coach Derek Wynn said. “But making your free throws makes a huge difference. We shot ourselves in the foot. It meant taking desperation shots instead of being in the game. It’s something we’ve preached from day one, that it could come back to haunt us. It did, big time.”
The Huskies improved to 18-12 for the year.
One bright spot for the night was senior forward Nicole Funn’s second consecutive double-double performance. She scored 14 points and grabbed 11 boards in her last game in orange and blue.
“Nicole was awesome,” Derek Wynn said. “She was a great example to young kids out there of how to really play hard and compete. She did everything she could possibly have done for us out there.”
Junior guard Shanell Law added 14 points for Pepperdine and senior guard Shandrika Lee went out with 11 points and four assists. Lee led the Waves with 13.4 points per game and 84 assists this season.
Washington took control of the game early on and never relinquished its lead.
“We came out on our heals,” Derek Wynn said. “We didn’t step up and make plays early on. We didn’t get in a rhythm and in turn we played catch-up the entire game.”
Pepperdine took almost six minutes to get on the boards, and even then the Waves’ offensive effort was lacking, shooting only 26.9 percent in the first half and missing 10 points from the charity stripe.
“Even though they didn’t shoot particularly well, neither did we,” assistant coach Jody Wynn said. “Anytime you miss 14 free throws you don’t deserve to win.”
During the second half, the Waves were able to connect on the boards (40.2 percent) and make a few runs, but were not successful at stopping the Huskies offense.
Andrea Lalum and Giuliana Mendiola scored 22 and 20 points respectively for Washington, which maintained approximately a 10-point lead throughout the entire contest.
“We let some of their players hurt us,” Jody Wynn said. “Basically we didn’t play at the level we knew we could play at.”
The Huskies’ tough zone defense forced 25 Washington points off Pepperdine turnovers.
The Waves completed the 2003-2004 season 17-13 overall and in tie for second place in the West Coast Conference (10-4).
The season might be over, but the work is not done. The players will take one week off before beginning individual skill work and focusing on next season.
“We can’t be complacent,” Derek Wynn said. “We have to focus on having a better year next year, reaching the Sweet 16, doing big things. The only way we’ll achieve that is by getting back in the gym and working hard.”
Submitted March 25, 2004
