Waves Move Up to Business Class
The pressures and joys of the women’s NCAA tournament were spelled out Friday by Pepperdine forward Sarah Richen and Villanova guard Trish Juhline.
This is the second tournament bid Richen’s team has received in the last three seasons. But the 23-7 Waves do not view tonight’s West Regional first-round game at the Lloyd Noble Center as a reward for winning the West Coast Conference regular-season and tournament titles.
“We’ve been here before,” said Richen, a 6-foot-2 senior who averages 8.9 points. “We’re happy to be here and we’re having a great time but there’s business to be done. We’re gonna have to do what is needed to win.”
Juhline was more bubbly about her 19-10 team, which tied for third in the Big East and reached the conference tournament semifinals before falling--as everybody has this season--to Connecticut.
“We’re still just as excited as we were last year,” said Juhline, a 5-10 junior who leads the Wildcats in scoring at 14.2 points a game.
“No matter how many times you’ve been here ... you try your whole college career to get here once. Any time after that is unbelievable.”
Pepperdine is seeded eighth in the regional, Villanova ninth. The Waves, who average 73.6 points, like to play an up-tempo game. Richen, 6-2 forward Nadja Morgan and 6-3 center Shannon Mayberry give Pepperdine an inside attack, and guards Damaris Hinojosa and Shandrika Lee unload from the outside when opponents pack the Waves’ frontcourt. Hinojosa, with a 13.6-point average, and Morgan (12.6) lead the Waves in scoring.
“They are a little stronger on the inside than us,” Villanova Coach Harry Perretta said. “Morgan concerns me a lot, because we don’t have a dominant inside scorer. We’ll try to play them straight up, but if we have to help out on [Morgan] it opens up the three-point line for them. That’s something we don’t want to do.”
The Wildcats, who average 60.9 points and are led by Juhline and Mimi Riley (11.9 points a game), are willing to use every tick of the 30-second clock before shooting. Patience isn’t simply a virtue for the Wildcats, it’s a strength. They depend on opponents getting itchy while they run their sets, waiting for the best opportunity to score.
“Some people call it boring basketball,” Pepperdine Coach Mark Trakh said. “Watching [Perretta’s] system on tape, I’m really impressed. His kids really know how to play the game. It’s the collective group knowing what they have to do to defeat the people they defeat.”
The Wildcats definitely know about long-distance shooting. They launched 757 three-point shots this season, making 249, and outscored opponents from behind the arc, 747-300. They have made at least one three-pointer in 144 consecutive games.