Feb. 26, 2004
Box Score
Malibu, CA - The Saint Mary's women's basketball team suffered a heartbreaking 57-56 defeat to the Pepperdine Waves on Thursday night at Firestone Fieldhouse in Malibu, CA. After two made free throws by Lauren Shaughnessy to put the Gaels ahead 56-52 with 1:10 left in the game, the Waves Shandrika Lee hit a 3-pointer with 46 seconds remaining and then Nicole Funn made the game-winning basket with 5.6 seconds left on a jumper from the free throw line. The Gaels final shot by Triola Jackson fell short off the front of the rim. With the loss the Gaels drop into a fourth place tie with Portland with a 7-6 West Coast Conference record. Portland beat San Diego 78-52 on Thursday night. Saint Mary's fell to 15-12 overall and Pepperdine improved to 9-4 in conference and 15-11 overall.
The Gaels will face Loyola Marymount on Saturday afternoon at 2:05 p.m. from Gersten Pavilion in Los Angeles. The Gaels can still earn the fourth spot in the WCC Tournament with a victory on Saturday.
In the game the Gaels were led by Triola Jackson, who scored 14 points and added seven rebounds, Monica Mertle added 13 points and four rebounds and Evynn Van Burger had eight points.
Overall the Gaels shot 34 percent from the field and held the Waves to 26 percent shooting in the game. Pepperdine outrebounded the Gaels 52-41.
To start the second half the Gaels scored 13 quick points to take a 38-29 lead after a Van Burger 3-pointer with 15:04 left in the game. Pepperdine finally broke the Gaels' run with a 3-pointer by Shanell Law at the 13:03 mark.
Saint Mary's built on its lead, taking a 43-33 advantage after a Brianna Winn 3-pointer at the 11:05 mark in the second half. The Waves cut into the lead with a 13-5 run to make the score 48-46 with 5:41 left in the game.
Saint Mary's fell behind 5-1 early, but used a 5-0 run to take a 6-5 lead with 16:17 left in the first half after a Jackson jumper. Both teams played back-and-forth for the next four minutes as Pepperdine took an 18-11 lead with 11:03 left in the game.
Midway through the second half, the Gaels put a run together to cut the Waves' lead to 27-25 at the half. After Pepperdine took a 20-11 lead with 9:22 left in the half, Saint Mary's outscored the Waves 14-7 over the next nine minutes which was capped off by a Winn buzzer beater to end the half.
In the first half, the Gaels were led offensively by Jackson, who had eight points and Mertle, Savannah Williams and Winn each had four points. In the half the Gaels shot 33 percent from the floor and held Pepperdine to 32 percent shooting.
