Jan. 15, 2005

Box Score

MALIBU, Calif. - Sophomore Stephanie Hawk scored a career-high 24 points on Saturday night as she helped carry the Gonzaga University Bulldogs to their 11th straight win with a 71-54 West Coast Conference victory at Pepperdine University. The Bulldogs improved to 15-2 overall, 4-0 in the WCC as they won in Malibu for the first time since a 70-69 win during the 1993-94 season. Pepperdine dropped to 6-11, 2-2 in the WCC.

With the score tied at 12-12 Gonzaga used a 15-4 run during the middle portion of the first-half to push their lead to 27-16 with 5:35 remaining. Shannon Mathews led the Bulldogs scoring run with a 3-pointer to start the streak at 14:10 and a jumper at 5:35 to close out the extended GU run. Mathews would finish with 14 points as four Gonzaga players finished in double-figures.

The Bulldogs continued to build their lead as the first-half ended with Raeanna Jewell hitting back-to-back 3-pointers to push the Gonzaga lead to 37-23. Jewell had 10 points and 10 rebounds. Pepperdine was able to cut the halftime lead to 37-27 as Syreeta Stafford hit a lay-up with 23 seconds remaining.

Gonzaga continued to extend its lead in the second half as Hawk went to work in the low post with back-to-back jumpers at 11:26 that gave the Bulldogs their biggest lead of the night at 54-36. Hawk also added nine rebounds to her game-high scoring total.

The closest Pepperdine would come in the second half was 10 points as Lauren Wenski hit a pair of free throws and a jumper to trim Gonzaga's advantage to 57-47 at 8:55. That would be the closest the Waves would get as Gonzaga held Pepperdine to only 32 percent shooting from the floor including a 2-for-12 effort from 3-point range. Gonzaga was solid for the third straight game at the free throw line as the Bulldogs converted 14-of-15 from the charity stripe.

Jennifer Lacy finished as Pepperdine's leading scorer with 12 points but she was essentially shutdown after scoring six of her points in the first six minutes. Stafford added 9 points to round out the top Waves scorers.

Anne Bailey was the fourth GU player to reach double-figures with 13 off the bench as the Bulldogs bench picked up 21 of the 71 points. The Bulldogs return to action on Thursday night against the University of San Francisco, the Lady Dons the only team to knock off Gonzaga in Spokane last season. Game time is 7 p.m. at the McCarthey Athletic Center.