STOCKTON, Calif. – Behind 16 points from senior
Sam Ashby and freshman
Sydney Ward's first career double-double, the Pacific women's basketball team (6–9, 1–3) downed Pepperdine (6–9, 1–4), 74–65.
Ashby led the team in scoring and assists, dishing out six. Ward scored 12 points and grabbed 10 rebounds while adding three blocks. Junior
Liz Smith scored 12 points in her return. Sophomore
Anaya James grabbed three steals and dished out five assists.
"With her skill set, double-doubles should become the norm for her (Ward)," said Head Coach
Bradley Davis. "She works her tail off. She is just so long; she alters things on defense quite a bit and can fly in and get some rebounds. She had the double-double but had three blocked shots, which was key for us defensively. Proud of the effort she brought tonight."
Pepperdine jumped to an early lead, with a 10-point lead well over six minutes into the first quarter. Pacific responded well in the waning minutes of the first quarter, going on an 8-0 run to end the quarter and make it a three-point game after one.
"Our bench made a big difference coming in to get things going," said Davis. "The defensive gameplan was the same, but people came in, Diamond especially and changed the tenor of the game, and that was what we needed her to do."
The second quarter was all Tigers, outscoring the Waves by 13. The Tigers took the lead after going on a 12-3, six-minute run to go up by four. Ward set a career-high in points before the halftime buzzer sounded and put the Tigers up six with 2:19 remaining. Ashby led the team during the quarter, scoring seven points.
Junior
Madelene Ennis helped Pacific to its biggest lead of the game in the third, as her four points paced the team on a 10-2 run to start the quarter and extend the lead to 18. The Tigers continued to attack the Wave's defense and went into the final frame with a 15-point lead.
However, the Waves did not go quietly into the night, scoring 25 points in the fourth quarter, cutting a 15-point lead into just a nine-point advantage for the Tigers when the final buzzer sounded. In an eight-point game with 2:30 left on the clock, the two teams traded missed shots until Ashby hit the dagger, a three-point bucket with 42 seconds remaining.
Pacific is back in action at 2 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 7, against Loyola Marymount at the Alex G. Spanos Center.
