Women's Basketball

Faraudo: Women's Second Round Recap

By Jeff Faraudo
#WCChoops Columnist | ARCHIVES
2020 WCC TOURNAMENT CENTRAL


LAS VEGAS — By winning two of its final three regular-season games, the Pacific women’s basketball team confirmed there is life without star junior Valerie Higgins. 

Higgins returned from a pectoral injury on Friday, and helped the fifth-seeded Tigers beat Santa Clara 67-49 in second-round action of the University Credit Union West Coast Conference Tournament at Orleans Arena.

Higgins had 14 points, 11 rebounds and three assists, but she also had two fouls early in the second quarter, so coach Bradley Davis had her take a seat on the bench.

The Tigers (17-13) led 27-12 at the time, but played the final 9:26 of the half without the two-time All-WCC player. And by halftime, Pacific still was in control, leading 37-24.

“It’s super encouraging,” Higgins said. “I have 100 percent faith and belief in each and every one of my teammates. That’s just something that stems from Bradley. He has faith in each of us and it just kind of spreads.”

Davis said even when the Broncos (12-19) scored seven straight points to cut the early second-quarter margin to 27-19 he had confidence in the five players on the floor.

 “The last couple weeks the whole team stepped up. Our level of play, especially on the offensive end, has picked up and we’ve been sharing the ball well and creating shots for one another,” he said. “We have faith in each and every one of us. We know what kind of great player Val is, and (now) she gets to step in being kind of a utility player wherever we need her.”

Four Pacific players wound up scoring in double digits, with Brooklyn McDavid contributing 12 points and eight rebounds, Kaylin Randhawa scoring 12 and Sofie Tryggedsson posting 11 points and seven rebounds.

Defense dialed in early: Pacific, playing its first game this week, was sharp defensively from the start. Santa Clara, coming off an overtime win against USF on Thursday, had more turnovers (9) than baskets (8) in the first half.

“Just really pleased with the energy and intensity we started off with,” Davis said. “Even through a couple lulls we managed to maintain that and I thought that was the difference.”

No argument from Santa Clara coach Bill Carr. “Hat’s off to UOP. They came out and jumped us early and we couldn't recover as well as we would have liked,” he said. “We’ve been doing a pretty good job of late of not turning the ball over. So I was pretty surprised when I looked at the stat sheet.”

Santa Clara closed within 53-45 early in the fourth quarter, but Pacific answered with a 6-0 run and the Broncos never threatened again.

Higgins shows no ills: Higgins was back after missing three games due to injury and she looked as good as ever. “I feel great,” she said. “It’s great to be back out there with the team. I’ve been waiting for this moment. I just love how our team’s progressed since I've been out.”

A third time vs. Portland: Pacific plays Saturday in the quarterfinals against No. 4 seed Portland (18-11), a team the Tigers beat twice during the regular season. Higgins is taking nothing for granted.

“What I remember about Portland is just how solid they are, offensively and defensively,” she said. “They give a consistent team effort throughout the entire game and we have to match that. It’s going to be a bit slower pace game, but I think if we basically do what we did today we should be all right.”

SCU shooting woes: The Broncos shot just 29.4 percent for the game, and it wasn’t just a single player who struggled. Tia Hay, Emily Wolph and Lindsey VanAllen, who teamed up to contribute 31 points in the win over USF, were a combined 6-for-30 from the field against Pacific.

“A lot of our shots were short. Probably wasn’t helpful that we played overtime yesterday,” Wolph said. “Sometimes shorts don’t fall. It happens.”

Pacific’s Davis said his team’s defense gets only partial credit. “The reality is they’re on a short day’s rest, so legs can be heavy,” he said.

Seven Broncos say goodbye: Seven seniors have played their final games for Santa Clara, including starters Wolph, Tia Hay and Naomi Jimenez. “We’re losing a really good group of young ladies, people who have meant the world to this program,” Carr said. “I’m going to miss them terribly.”

Stat of the Game: Pacific outscored Santa Clara by a combined margin of 22-4 on second-chance points (8-0) and points after turnovers (14-4).

Stat of the Game, Part II: Pacific allowed the Broncos just one offensive rebound the entire game.

Quote of the Game: “It’s huge because they have some shooters. And when it’s one-and-done for them you don’t let them get into too much of a rhythm.” — Pacific coach Bradley Davis on limiting Santa Clara to one offensive rebound.

PEPPERDINE 87, SAINT MARY’S 72

The Waves put up a season-high point total, but after their second-round win over Saint Mary’s all first-year coach Kristen Dowling could talk about was defense.

“Defensively, we get after it,” she said. “There’s just so much fight in this group — there has been since Day 1. We really rally around each other and I’m really excited about where are.”

Where the Waves (15-14) are headed is to Saturday’s quarterfinal matchup against third-seeded BYU (18-10).

Pepperdine turned up its defense to start the fourth quarter, triggering an 11-0 run that transformed a 61-60 lead into a 72-60 advantage in the space of barely 2 minutes.

The Waves forced turnovers, airballs and quick shots by the Gaels (12-19), and suddenly a close game was no more.

“We just didn’t execute our fundamentals as well as we should have,” Gaels coach Paul Thomas said.

“That opened up the game,” Dowling said of the 11-0 burst. “Defensively, the intensity really picked up. That was the difference in the game.”

“I absolutely loved it,” said senior guard Hannah Friend, who led four Pepperdine players in double figures with 26 points. “My team, we knew if we were going to get an 11-0 run, we got to keep pushing. We play uptempo. We had to stick with what we do. That’s pushing the ball, getting it down the court, beating people in transition.

“This team did that all the way from the starters to the bench. Everyone who went in, it was the same energy.”

Monique Andriuolo added 21 points and 12 rebounds, Malia Hambrick scored 19 and All-WCC senior guard Barbara Sitanggan had 12 points and nine assists.

Finding their groove: The Waves made adjustments early in the season with a new coach, but now it seems they have figured out their identity.

“One thing that stayed consistent with us, we’ve worked the whole season to get to this point,” Friend said. “Our coach talks about how this is a new calendar year. Who cares what happened previously? 

“In March, anyone can win on any given night. We took that mindset, regardless of the seeding or who we are playing.”

Simons will be better still: All-WCC sophomore Sam Simons had 24 points against Pepperdine, but she is just scratching the surface of her potential, according to Thomas.

“I am very proud of Sam. Both she and I know we need to work on some things,” he said. “Sam is a very good player right now, and the best thing about it is Sam wants to be a great player. Neither of us can wait to get back to work and make her into a great player.”

“Something coach and I talk about all the time is offensive rebounding,” Simons said. “Then just overall aspects of my game - finishing with both hands, going both ways. Coach does a great job of telling me what I need to improve on and helping me improve.”

An un-Saint Mary’s season: After eight consecutive 20-win seasons, the Gaels were beset by injuries and never found a rhythm. “We did not have a Saint Mary’s College women’s basketball-type of year,” Thomas said. “But I see a very positive future.”

He noted that junior guard Emily Codding, who was averaging 14.7 points and 8.7 rebounds through 18 games when she went down to a season-ending knee injury, will be fully recovered by next season. The Gaels also have two players who red-shirted this season and have signed three prospects.

“The cupboard will not be bare next year, I can promise you that,” he said.

Stat of the game: The up-tempo Waves outscored Saint Mary’s 26-0 on fast-break points, many of them followed the Gaels’ 17 turnovers.

Quote of the game: “There’s two types of turnovers. There’s deadball turnovers that are horrible. The the live-ball turnovers that are stick-a-fork-in-your-eye kind of turnovers. We had many, many stick-a-fork-in-your-eye-turnovers and they converted those into points in some run-out layups. It’s a momentum-takeaway from our side and we struggled after that.” — Saint Mary’s coach Paul Thomas on how Pepperdine turned 17 turnovers into 27 points.”