Pepperdine’s Winning Streak Reaches 11

Pepperdine tied a school record with its 11th consecutive victory Friday, and remained the only undefeated team in the West Coast Conference with a 70-60 win over visiting Santa Clara, before 368 at Firestone Fieldhouse.

The Waves (14-4, 5-0) have not lost since a 77-71 overtime defeat to Illinois on Dec. 8. But they are losing players. Forward Kelli Spencer was lost for the season after suffering a left knee injury last week at Portland. Center Shannon Mayberry, with a stress fracture in her right leg, may be lost for the season. And starting point guard Shandrika Lee injured her wrist during Friday’s game and is questionable for tonight’s game against San Diego.

Nevertheless, Pepperdine, which trailed, 30-23, at halftime, prevailed by holding the Broncos (13-5, 3-2) to 31.8% shooting from the field (21 for 66), including a season-worst one for 17 on three-point attempts.

The Waves were cold in the first half (nine for 30) but warmed up as the game went on, shooting 43% in the second half, and 36.2% overall (21 for 58).

Tamara McDonald led Pepperdine with 16 points, and made a crucial three-pointer with 33 seconds left to give the Waves a 64-60 lead.

Tammy Annas and Julie Butler each had 18 for Santa Clara.

Mike Terry

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No. 19 Colorado State 57, Wyoming 49--Lisa Narkiewicz scored 13 points and Katie Borton had five of her 10 in the final two minutes as the Rams won at Fort Collins, Colo.

Angie Gorton also had 10 points for Colorado State (16-3, 5-0 Mountain West). The Rams survived an off night from leading scorer Ashley Augspurger to win their sixth consecutive. Augspurger was 0 for 12 shooting and held to four points.

Carrie Bacon had 17 points for Wyoming (9-8, 2-3), which went more than 12 minutes without a field goal and lost to Colorado State for the 11th consecutive time.

Ohio State 70, No. 23 Minnesota 66--Courtney Coleman had 16 points and 10 rebounds, and Didi Reynolds made the go-ahead free throws with 5.1 seconds to play to lead the Buckeyes at Columbus, Ohio.

Coleman made two free throws with 1:24 left to give Ohio State (10-10, 5-4 Big Ten) a 66-64 lead. But Minnesota (14-4, 4-3) tied it on Kadidja Andersson’s turnaround jumper 22 seconds later.

Lindsey Whalen led the Gophers with 23 points.

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Associated Press