Pepperdine Advances Despite a Big Scare

Top-seeded Pepperdine survived a surprising scare to defeat eighth-seeded Gonzaga, 68-64, in the first round of the West Coast Conference women’s basketball tournament Thursday before 979 at Jenny Craig Pavilion in San Diego.

The Waves (21-7), seeking their first WCC tournament title and second NCAA tournament berth, didn’t have the game comfortably in hand until forward Sarah Richen made two free throws with 7.8 seconds left to account for the final margin.

Gonzaga (11-18) harassed regular-season champion Pepperdine into 27 turnovers and pulled within two points three times in the final two minutes.

Center Nadja Morgan had 20 points and 12 rebounds for the Waves, who will play fourth-seeded San Francisco (18-10) in the semifinals at 6 tonight.

San Francisco 65, Loyola Marymount 63--The Lions (15-13), playing without their leading scorer, finished the season with their third consecutive loss after center Adrianne Slaughter’s shot in the lane bounced off the front of the rim as time expired.

Loyola was missing senior guard Bryn Britton, the WCC’s No. 2 scorer with a 15.3 average, who tore a knee ligament Saturday against San Diego.

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In other WCC quarterfinals, second-seeded Santa Clara defeated San Diego, 82-52, and third-seeded St. Mary’s beat Portland, 68-49. Santa Clara plays St. Mary’s at about 8:15 tonight.

Rob Fernas

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TOP 25 GAMES

Cheryl Ford’s 19 points led No. 9 Louisiana Tech (21-4, 16-1) to a 70-35 win over Fresno State (9-18, 4-13) in a Western Athletic Conference game at Ruston, La.... Le’Coe Willingham’s 22 points helped Auburn (16-12) to a 70-57 upset of No. 22 Florida (18-10) in the Southeastern Conference tournament at Nashville, Tenn.... No. 24 Georgia (19-9) held off Alabama (17-11) for a 64-60 SEC win.

Associated Press