LINDSEY BESECKER
Staff Writer
While other Pepperdine athletic teams celebrate Homecoming with games in Malibu, the women’s basketball team will travel to the Northwest to play Gonzaga University and University of Portland after a tough double-overtime loss to University of San Francisco and a 65-55 win over University of San Diego last week.
“(We’re) definitely confident,” Head Coach Julie Rousseau said. “We know we are going to have to go play hard and play well, but we have been doing that more consistently as of late. … We’re going in with the mindset that we want to come back 2-0 — two wins, that is.”
Gonzaga’s Bulldogs sit atop the West Coast Conference standings with a 20-2 overall record and a 9-0 conference record. They are also the only WCC team to receive votes in the Associated Press poll; in the most recent poll, they had 13 votes, which is not enough for a ranking. In their most recent meeting in Malibu, Gonzaga defeated Pepperdine 71-54. They will play today at 7 p.m. in Spokane, Wash. However, Rousseau said this game is no more important than any other game this season.
“All of our games have been important games,” she said. “The one thing that we’ve been trying to achieve is consistency. We’ve won three of the last four games.
“Gonzaga is in first place, they’re undefeated. We will be able to gauge ourselves, where we are in this conference, and (it will be) on their home court.”
Saturday the Waves will face Portland at 2 p.m. The Pilots are at the bottom of the conference standings with a 6-16 overall record and a 1-8 conference record. In their meeting earlier this season, the Waves defeated the Pilots 85-52, their most decisive win this season.
Last Saturday, Pepperdine took on USD at Firestone Fieldhouse as senior Jennifer Lacy scored 20 points and junior Kelsey Ball added a career-high 16 in the 65-55 win. Sophomore Lauren Wenski also scored in double-digits with 10 points, including two three-point baskets, the second of which put the Waves up for good with 7:38 left in the second half. With the win, Pepperdine improved to 5-4 in WCC and 9-13 overall.
The Waves also took on the San Francisco Dons on Thursday, losing in the final seconds of the second overtime, 84-81. Senior Syreeta Stafford attempted to tie the game as the clock expired, but her three-point attempt bounced off the rim. Lacy led all scorers with a career-high 34 points in the loss, freshman Daphanie Kennedy added 17 and Stafford collected 15 for the Waves.
Lacy made a lay-up with three seconds left in the second half to tie the score at 66 and send the game to its first overtime. She then made two free throws with 12 seconds left in the first overtime to tie the game at 72 and send it into a second overtime. However, the Dons came out victorious in the second overtime after scoring in the first 30 seconds and never giving up the lead, although the Waves came within one point twice.
“Losing to USF in double overtime, that hurt, it stung, but we still have games to play,” Rousseau said. “We’re going to learn from that and hopefully get better.”
After this week’s road trip, Pepperdine closes out the regular season with three home games. They will host Santa Clara University, St. Mary’s College and cross-town rivals Loyola Marymount University before heading up north to Santa Clara for the WCC Tournament. In the last meetings with these teams, Pepperdine lost to St. Mary’s 74-64 but defeated Santa Clara and LMU 80-65 and 60-56.
02-10-2005
