MALIBU, Calif. — A huge first quarter for Pepperdine helped carry it through on Saturday afternoon, as the San Francisco women's basketball team played even the rest of the way but could not chip into the big early deficit, as the Waves beat the Dons, 69-50, in a West Coast Conference game at Firestone Fieldhouse.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED

• Pepperdine (10-6, 4-2 WCC) burst out of the gate in the first quarter, hitting each of its first three 3-point attempts, including two off of San Francisco turnovers, to jump out to a 14-4 lead four minutes in. The lead would grow to 21-8 when Yasmine Robinson-Bacote hit her second trey and the Waves' fourth of the quarter. At the end of the first period, Pepperdine had ran out to a 31-13 lead by shooting 54.5 percent in the frame and scoring 12 points off of five USF turnovers.
   
• Freshman Marija Galic made her collegiate debut in the second quarter as the Dons (5-11, 1-4 WCC) improved their shooting percentage by nearly 10 percent while slowing down Pepperdine's shooting by more than 15 percent. The Waves led by as many as 23 in the quarter, but free throws from Shannon Powell and a basket by Marianna Klavina in the final two minutes cut Pepperdine's lead back under 20 at 46-27.
   
• USF continued to chip away at Pepperdine's large lead in the third quarter. Marianna Klavina hit a contested 3-pointer from the left wing midway through to make it a 15-point game at 50-35 – the closest the Dons had been since the first quarter. But Pepperdine bounced back and made three of its next four shots to end the quarter on an 8-2 run and lead 58-37 heading to the final frame.
   
• The Dons' defense stepped up in the fourth quarter. Pepperdine went without a field goal for nearly six minutes and didn't score any points for more than two minutes on two separate occasions, but the Dons still could not get any closer than 15 points. USF held the Waves to just 25.0 percent shooting in the final period after they had shot better than 50.0 percent in the opening stanza.

NOTABLE NUMBERS

• 1st: Marija Galic played in her first collegiate game on Saturday, appearing a few minutes into the second quarter. She made her first collegiate field goal for her first career points, grabbed her first career rebound and even dished her first career assist.
• 12: Both teams had 12 offensive rebounds, but neither capitalized on them. Pepperdine had only six second-chance points while San Francisco had two.
• 39: San Francisco outrebounded (or tied) its opponent for the third time in the last four games, outrebounding Pepperdine, 39-38. It's the most rebounds they have had since also pulling down 39 versus BYU on Dec. 31.

COMING UP

• San Francisco returns home next week to host two WCC games. East Bay rival Saint Mary's visits on Thursday and Northern California foe Pacific comes to War Memorial at the Sobrato Center on Saturday. Fans can purchase tickets and find all live coverage links on USFDons.com.