By Jeff Faraudo
#WCChoops columnist | ARCHIVES
 
The Loyola Marymount women’s basketball team found its offense just in time for the University Credit Union West Coast Conference Tournament.
 
The Lions beat rival Pepperdine 85-73 on Thursday at the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas with their highest-scoring game of the season. As a result, they head into Friday’s 11 a.m. second-round game against defending WCC tournament champ Portland with valuable momentum.
 
“In our minds, we go into every game feeling like this is the game we’re going to break out,” said LMU coach Charity Elliott, whose team averaged just 59.2 points throughout the season. “We’ve been waiting for this kind of performance.”
 
The victory by the eighth-seeded Lions (6-18) snapped an 11-game losing streak dating back to Jan. 21. The season ended for Pepperdine (5-18).
 
Senior guard Chelsea Gipson, who had missed the previous four games for personal reasons, unleashed a season-high 26 points, including eight 3-point baskets. That tied the WCC tournament single-game record and set a school record.
 
The Lions averaged just 58 points in a pair of regular-season losses to Portland, but Gipson said they are eager for another shot. “I have a lot of confidence in our offense,” she said. “We literally had nothing to lose so we just came out and played our `A’ game.”
 
Sophomore forward Khari Clark scored a career-best 20 points on 9-for-11 shooting. “I know she can knock those shots down,” Gipson said. “I’m just proud that she kept shooting the ball.”
 
Elliott said her immediate priority post-game was getting her team plenty of rest. She knows the fifth-seeded Pilots will be a challenge. 
 
“They’re a very good team. We’re going to have to be ready to show up,” she said, singling out Portland’s All-WCC stars Haylee Andrews and Alex Fowler. “They’re phenomenal players. Haylee gives us trouble every time. And Fowler, (if) she catches, she’s going to score. We’ll be ready.”
 
JONES’ RETURN PROVIDES A BOOST: Loyola senior forward Jasmine Jones, who averaged 10.7 points and 7.5 rebounds while starting 30 games a year ago, made her first start of this season against the Waves.
 
Sidelined the first 17 games by a knee injury, she scored a season-high 10 points on Thursday. 
 
Although starting senior forward Meghan Mandel was out with an injury, Elliott said it made all the difference that Jones and Gipson are clicking again.
 
“It’s super-nice having Chelsea back on the floor. She brings so much poise and confidence,” Elliott said. “Jasmine is our vocal leader. For her to be out there, I can describe how much the two of them gave us.”
 
WAVES LOOK FORWARD: Second-year Pepperdine coach Kristen Dowling said she is encouraged headed into the offseason because of progress made by freshmen Kendyl Carson and Jane Nwaba.
 
“Obviously we want to win. At the end of the day that’s what we’re here for,” Dowling said. “With the play of Kendyl Carson and Jane Nwaba, I think you see the future is bright. We have a long way to go, but as the season progressed they got better. The better they were, the better we were. I’m excited about those two going forward and our future.”
 
Carson scored 14 points against LMU and averaged 15.6 points over the final five games while Nwaba shot better than 50 percent over that same stretch.
 
Leading scorer Malia Bambrick and fellow junior Cheyenne Givens also will return after scoring 15 and 17 points, respectively, against LMU.  Pepperdine bids farewell to senior forward Monique Andriuolo, who had a game-high 10 rebounds Thursday.

Players have the option of replaying this season through an NCAA waiver related to the pandemic, but Andriuolo said after the game she has made her decision. “That was final game at Pepperdine University. I will be going home to continue my basketball career there and continue my studying.”

STAT OF THE GAME: LMU, which shot just 31 percent from the 3-point arc this season, converted 11 of 22 from deep for 50 percent against Pepperdine.

QUOTE OF THE DAY: “We have talked about grit from Day 1. We’ve talked about resiliency every day. We’ve talked about all the things that have transpired. For them to still have the energy and fire and want-to after the year we’ve had speaks volumes about them as players and people. They don’t want to be done. They still want to be playing.” — LMU coach Charity Elliott.