Rigley Rides Waves’ Rise in Conference
Who knew? Certainly not Samantha Rigley, who has been pleasantly surprised by the unprecedented success of the Pepperdine women’s basketball team this season.
“It was definitely unexpected,” said the Waves’ junior guard. “I thought it would be a year to fatten individual statistics.”
Instead, Rigley put up modest numbers while Pepperdine’s shot through the roof. The Waves (20-9) enter the West Coast Conference tournament today with their best record since the NCAA began governing women’s basketball in the 1981-82 season.
Moreover, they took second--their highest finish ever in the WCC--after being picked fifth in a preseason coaches’ poll.
Emotionally buoyed by the turn of events, Rigley talks confidently of Pepperdine winning the conference tournament and becoming the first women’s team in school history to qualify for the NCAA tournament. The Waves play Gonzaga (11-15) in a first-round game today at noon at Santa Clara.
“We’re holding hands and ready to plow through,” Rigley said. “It just so happens that Gonzaga is the first to get knocked out. I really want this team to be the first to play in the NCAA [tournament]. To do it with the talent that we have would be awesome.”
Rigley, a former Valley player of the year at Alemany High, has played a big part in the Waves’ breakthrough season. The 5-foot-11 shooting guard is tied for second on the team in scoring, averaging 12.1 points, and she ranks second in assists and third in rebounds.
Her 49 three-point baskets in 135 attempts broke the school season record of 48 set two years ago by Clare Walker.
“The kid is a gamer,” Pepperdine Coach Mark Trakh said of Rigley. “She doesn’t turn the ball over, she makes shots and she makes plays.”
Rigley thrives in pressure situations. In Pepperdine’s 59-58 victory over Portland on Saturday that decided second place in the WCC, her defense forced Kristin Hepton, the Pilots’ all-conference forward, into a last-second miss.
“She handles pressure real well,” Trakh said. “If a team is fouling late in a game, she runs to the ball and pushes kids out of the way so she can step to the line. A lot of players shy away from those situations, but she demands the ball.”
Always confident in her own abilities, Rigley has grown as a player this season by learning to trust her teammates and becoming more unselfish.
The emergence of junior guard Dana Sulenski in conference play and the steady leadership of senior point guard Angie White have pushed Rigley to a secondary role in the Waves’ three-guard lineup. No longer the team’s first option from the perimeter, Rigley is content to contribute when she can.
“I can’t complain,” Rigley said. “My shooting percentage (34.8%) should be a little higher, but our team doesn’t need [my scoring] as much because we have Dana. I get my points, but I try to focus on having the game come to me. I’m not forcing my shots, which I’ve done in the past.”
Trakh says what separates Sulenski from Rigley is work ethic. Sulenski was a reserve her first two seasons at Pepperdine but she has eclipsed Rigley, in her third year as a starter, through countless hours spent in the gym working on her skills.
Sulenski, whose 49 three-point baskets ties Rigley for the school record, was rewarded with a spot on the All-WCC team after leading the Waves and ranking second overall with a 14.9 scoring average in conference play.
“Dana shoots the ball 500 times a day,” Trakh said. “She trains every single day. Sam is learning how to do that.”
Rigley, by her own admission, did not train seriously in the off-season until last summer. Previously, Rigley always got by strictly on her talent. She has been a starter since she was a third-grader playing for her father Mike on a parks and recreation team in Cerritos, before the family moved to Granada Hills.
“In the fourth grade my dad was telling me I was going to get a [college] scholarship,” Rigley recalled. “I had no idea what a scholarship was, but I was working for it.”
Alemany Coach Melissa Hearlihy said Rigley displayed college potential early in her four-year varsity career. Rigley was a four-time All-Mission League selection and The Times’ Valley player of the year as a junior in 1994, when she averaged 16 points and 6.8 rebounds.
“She was a very goal-oriented kid,” Hearlihy said. “She was a solid student in the classroom, as well as a student of the game. She had a great knowledge of the game and she commanded a floor presence.”
Rigley’s self-assured attitude has prompted some to label her difficult to coach, but Trakh calls her a “rascal” rather than a malcontent.
“Sam needs structure,” said Trakh, a former successful high school coach who has known Rigley since she was in junior high. “You really have to define the parameters to her. We demand a lot and, to me, she’s thrived in that.
“I’d never say she has a bad attitude. I’d say she’s creative.”
Trakh admires the way Rigley bounced back after a serious bout of flu caused her to be hospitalized overnight and sit out Pepperdine’s first two conference games.
He’ll be further impressed if she comes back for her senior year in shape and ready to compete on the first day of practice.
Rigley knows she’ll have to continue working to keep her starting spot next season, when Pepperdine is expected to field its best team ever because of an influx of talented newcomers. The Waves lose only one senior, White.
“I can’t rely on my talent because [the new players] are better than me athletically,” Rigley said. “It’s teaching me about life. I can’t just slide by anymore.”