Before starting new season, basketball teams close out exhibition play with undefeated records.
JANE LEE
Sports Editor
The Pepperdine basketball teams concluded exhibition play this week, fine-tuning their games in anticipation of the start of the 2006-2007 regular season this weekend.
In Sunday’s exhibition game against Cal State Los Angeles, the women’s team received a strong performance from freshman Teena Wickett, who scored 10 of her game-high 18 points before halftime as the Waves grabbed a comfortable 77-53 home win.
While the Waves never trailed in the game, they went on to score the first eight points of the second half and extended the lead to as many as 30 at two different times before claiming the 24-point victory.
Sophomore Taylor Smith scored 13 in the game while sophomore Alisha Bryant and freshman Miranda Ayim knocked in 10 points to lead Pepperdine to its second-straight exhibition win.
Two days later, junior Kingsley Costain scored a team-high 23 points to lead a group of five players in double figures as the men’s basketball team closed out its own exhibition schedule with a 103-91 victory over Fresno Pacific University on Tuesday night.
Senior guard Marvin Lea, along with senior guard Chase Griffin, finished with 18 points and was joined in double figures by sophomore forward Willie Galick, who dropped in 12, and sophomore guard Tomas Pranciliauskas, who scored 10 points in 18 minutes before fouling out midway through the second half.
In its two exhibition games, the men’s team averaged 106.5 points a contest posted a 48.3 field goal percentage (73-of-151).
The men will open the regular season this weekend when it travels to Seattle for the Basketball Travelers Classic.
The Waves will tip-off the season against host and sixteenth-ranked Washington on Sunday beginning at 7:30 p.m.
The women will start their regular season Friday night in College Station, Texas, against the Texas A&M Aggies.
11-09-2006