Rheina Ale attempts to shake her defender, but despite her efforts the Lady Dons lost to Pepperdine on their final game of the year. (Kate Greenspan|Foghorn)

In their final regular season game of the year, the Lady Dons basketball team hosted the Pepperdine Waves Saturday afternoon. On senior day, it was a freshman that shined. Freshman guard Vania Singleterry recorded her third double-double of the season, while scoring a game high 14 points and adding a career best 11 rebounds. Before the game, seniors Shay Rollins, Alexis Musante and Leslie Walker were honored for their basketball careers while at USF. All of these players have made great contributions to the athletic program and they all have had great careers.

The game started out very exciting with the lead going back and forth between the two squads. Pepperdine was first on the board after two free throws, but the Dons quickly scored to take the lead. Pepperdine held the biggest lead of the first half when they went up by five at the seven-minute mark. But the lady Dons would not let Pepperdine develop a larger lead. The Dons did a good job of staying alive in the first half. Their defense was solid enough to not allow the Waves to pull ahead and their offense kept scoring to regain or shorten the Pepperdine lead. The half ended with Pepperdine leading 26-22.

In the second half the Dons quickly tied the game at 26-26. Singleterry and Rollins added two lay-ups to get the Dons back into the game. The guard combo combined for 25 points. Behind Singleterry and Rollins, the Dons continued to fight off the better Pepperdine Waves. The second half was a lot like the first half with the score going back and forth. At around the 10-minute mark in the second half, the score was tied at 36 all. But after this point in the game, the Pepperdine Waves pulled away.

The Waves went on a 10 to two run to take and stretch the lead 46-38. Pepperdine put the Lady Dons into a deep hole that was almost impossible to get out of. The Dons attempted to fight back but Pepperdine continued to build their lead, going up by as much as 10 points. Taylor Smith and Skye Barnett, who each scored 12 points, led Pepperdine to their lead. In fact, they were the only Waves players that scored in the double digits. With the balanced scoring attack, Pepperdine slowly beat down the Dons on both sides of the court.

The lead was too much for the Dons and they failed to come back in the game. They eventually lost 55-47 on their final game of the season. Senior night was spoiled by a loss but now the Dons will compete in the WCC tournament. USF will get the 7th seed in the WCC tournament in Las Vegas. They will play the San Diego Toreros on Friday Mar. 6.

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