Army West Point Athletics
Army West Point
4-1
Pepperdine
3-2
Army Defeats Pepperdine, 56-44, For Fifth Consecutive Win
November 30, 2014 | Women's Basketball
Junior Kelsey Minato led the Black Knights with 23 points, while senior Olivia Schretzman and junior Aimee Oertner each recorded double-doubles with 11 points and 10 rebounds and 13 points and 10 boards, respectively.
Senior Bria Richardson finished with a team-leading 12 points for Pepperdine, while classmate Ea Shoushtari added 11 points and seven rebounds.
Army held Pepperdine to 2-of-11 shooting through the game's first 1:21 while the Black Knights hit 5-of-10 of their attempts to open with a 12-4 lead. Oertner notched four points and three rebounds during the stretch before finishing the afternoon with her first double-double of the year. The junior also added three blocks to her outing.
The Black Knights and the Waves stayed about even during the remainder of the period, with the visitors outscoring Pepperdine, 16-14, over the final 12:21 of the frame. Pepperdine responded to Army's 12-4 run to open the contest by scoring the next four points to cut its deficit to four by the 11:32 mark.
Army stretched its lead back to eight following a pair of buckets from Oertner that came 1:31 apart before extending that run to 6-3, including four points from Minato. The Black Knights took advantage of 11 first-half fouls from the hosts as they shot a perfect 8-of-8 from the charity stripe during the period.
Pepperdine cut Army's lead to five, at 16-11, with 8:12 left in the half, but couldn't overcome 11 turnovers in period and trailed by 10 at the break.
Oertner sank a jumper 2:59 into the second half to quiet a 4-0 run by the Waves coming out of the break before Army scored six of the game's next nine points to go up, 36-25. Minato netted all six points for the Black Knights during the run while hitting three of her five shots during the stretch.
Minato, who struggled shooting from long range in the game, buried her first three-pointer as time expired on the shot clock to put the Black Knights up, 47-34, with 2:27 remaining in regulation to kick start a 7-2 run before the Black Knights kept their distance to finish with a 12-point victory.
“You can't say enough about Aimee Oertner and Olivia Schretzman,” said Army head coach Dave Magarity. “They both had double-doubles and I thought their defense was terrific at times. This is a huge swing for us. Pepperdine was coming off some big wins. I couldn't be happier with this trip, we had a lot of great fans supporting us and it was a great experience.”
Army wraps up its three-game road swing when it faces Fairleigh Dickinson on Saturday, Dec. 6 at 1 p.m. before making the quick turnaround to host St. Francis Brooklyn on Dec. 8.
GAME NOTES: Army moves to 1-1 all-time against Pepperdine … Kelsey Minato reached double figures for the 55th straight game and reached 20 points for the 30th time … Aimee Oertner and Olivia Schretzman either finished with double-doubles … Army improves to 5-1 for the third straight season … Dave Magarity improves to 4-0 in the state of California as Army's head coach.
