Garrett Wait
Sport Editor
Pepperdine’s women’s basketball team made waves in the conference this season despite losing three starters and the head coach from the 2003-2004 team that finished in a tie for second place.
The Waves made it to the semifinals of the West Coast Conference tournament March 3 and 4 in Santa Clara, Calif., gaining the attention of the rest of the teams in the conference who thought Pepperdine would be a pushover after losing so much talent from the previous year.
Pepperdine defeated Saint Mary’s College 57-49 despite struggling mightily in the opening moments of the game.
“I think we were very confident and determined when we went into that game,” said freshman guard Shannon Johnson. “We knew we would win that game, so even though we were down a little in the beginning, we knew we weren’t going to lose in the end.”
The Waves were down 12-2 at one point during the first half, but bounced back to take a 27-21 lead entering halftime.
Pepperdine got into a bit of foul trouble in the second half, with Jennifer Lacy, Teiosha George and Kelsey Ball all picking up their fourth fouls in the middle of the second 20 minutes. The Waves were able to maintain the lead without the players, but allowed Saint Mary’s to gain ground.
Lacy led the team with 17 points and nine rebounds, freshman guard Daphanie Kennedy added 15 points of her own, and senior guard Syreeta Stafford poured in 12 points as the Waves made it to the semifinals where they faced top-seeded Gonzaga University.
Gonzaga proved to be more of a challenge for Pepperdine, as the Waves fell to the Bulldogs, 58-40 on Friday, March 4.
The first half of the game was a struggle for both teams as neither could put together a good shooting performance. The score was 16-15 Gonzaga after the first 20 minutes of play, with each team shooting under 30 percent in the half. But the team members didn’t get down on themselves.
“It was exciting because it meant that much more when somebody did score,” Johnson said. “It was our lowest scoring half of the season and it was crazy because at one point it was six to seven for like five or six minutes.
“Even though our offense couldn’t get it going, we knew our defense was playing well and that paid off because we held them to just 16 points in the half,” she added.
Pepperdine came out looking strong in the second half, scoring the first eight points to take a 23-16 lead on the Lady Bulldogs. However, that lead was short-lived and the Zags began to pull away from the Waves later in the half.
Lacy led the Waves in scoring again as she contributed 19 points in the game. She was the only Wave in double figures.
The Waves finished the year at 12-17, finishing fourth in the conference despite losing three starters from last year’s 17-13 team that made it to the Women’s NIT tournament after finishing second in the WCC.
Pepperdine will again look to reload with good talent next year after seeing seniors Lacy, Stafford, Shanell Law and Kelli Spencer play their final game in the blue and orange. The Waves will return a solid young core of players, including Kennedy who was a candidate for Freshman of the Year honors in the WCC.
“We’re very excited for next year,” Johnson said. “Our young people got a lot of experience and we feel like it was a good year to get to know the coaches. We didn’t go as far as we should have, but we should be able to make everybody proud next year.”
03-17-2004
