MALIBU, Calif. – The University of San Francisco women's basketball team extended its winning streak to three games with a convincing 68-54 win over Pepperdine at Firestone Fieldhouse on Thursday evening. With the win, the Dons get the sweep over the Waves and capture their first win in Malibu since January, 2016.
 
USF (8-8, 4-6 WCC) gets back to .500 thanks to another tremendous shooting performance by the Dons and stifling defense. USF held the Waves (3-8, 0-7 WCC) to 33.9 percent shooting (20-59), including a 1-for-9 mark from 3-point range.  The Dons, who led for over 33 minutes, shot 44.6 percent from the field (25-56) and were even better from beyond the arc, shooting 45.5 percent (10-22).
 
"Really good road win for us," said head coach Molly Goodenbour.  "We've not had a great deal of success on this trip in the last couple of years, to be able to come in here and get a win is fantastic.  I was really pleased with our effort, another great team effort.  We played tremendous team defense tonight.  We took their two leading scorers out of the mix and tried to force other people to beat us. I'm just really pleased with how the girls are playing right now, they are playing with a lot of confidence."
 
The Dons had three players in double figures and were led by Ioanna Krimili's big night.  The redshirt freshman finished with a game-high 24 points thanks to seven 3-point field goals.  Krimili finished the night going 7-for-10 from long range, tying her own personal-high and the USF single-game high shared with Rachel Howard, Andrea Katie, and Amy Touli.
 
Krimili was joined by Lucie Hoskova and Amalie Langer who had 16 each.  Hoskova was 6-for-12 from the field and added five rebounds.  Langer was 7-for-11 from the field and dished out six assists. Lucija Kostic had another tremendous performance without scoring.  She had a team-high nine rebounds and seven assists.
 
"I thought Ioanna had another great game for us, it always makes things easier when someone is making a lot of baskets," said Goodenbour. "I was really pleased with Lucie Hoskova's performance.  She is in a really good place with her confidence. She's getting a lot of god looks in the paint, and showing tremendous ability to get to the free throw line.  She is playing with a lot of good energy, which is nice to see and be able to count on her. I thought Amalie Langer played fantastic defense again tonight and gave us a real boost with her scoring."
 
The Waves were led by Cheyenne Givens' team-high 13 points.  Monique Andriuolo had 10 points and 16 rebounds.  The two areas that Pepperdine had the advantage over the Dons was on the glass and in the paint. The Waves outrebounded USF 40-33, which included 14 offensive rebounds.  In the paint, Pepperdine finished with 38 points compared to the Dons' 26.
 
The contest began with neither team lighting up the scoreboard.  The Dons started just 2-for-7 from the field, the Waves were 3-for-4 but were bitten by the turnover bug.  With 3:01 in the first Krimili hit the first of three-consecutive 3-point field goals to give the Dons their first lead.  Langer hit a pull up jumper with under five seconds to play to give the Dons a 15-12 advantage at the end of the first.
 
Midway through the second quarter the Dons built their lead to 11 following a layup by Langer.  Defensively the Dons were all over the Waves who were just 1-for-10 from the field throughout most of the second quarter.  Out of the media timeout, the Waves forced the issue inside and started getting layups.  Pepperdine went on a 6-0 run cut the deficit to five forcing USF to use a timeout.
 
Out of the timeout the Dons responded with a run of their own, and went into the locker room leading by seven, 31-24.  The Dons finished the half shooting 42.9 percent from the field going 12-for-28, from 3-point range the Dons connected on 35.7 percent of their attempts going 5-for-14.  The Waves, thanks to that 1-for-10 slump, shot 32.3 percent in the first half and were 0-for-4 from 3-point range.
 
In the second half, the Waves scored on their first possession to cut the deficit to five points.  But that was as close as they would get.  USF led by as much as 18 with 4:04 to play in the fourth quarter and the lead never dipped below single digits after Jessica McDowell-White hit a triple with 6:31 in the third to give USF an 11-point advantage.
 
The Dons will return to action on Saturday when they travel to Gersten Pavilion to take on Loyola Marymount.  Saturday's game is slated to tip off at 2:00 p.m. and will be streamed on the WCC Network.  George Devine will have the call on the Dons' Audio Network.