Basketball continues non-conference schedule with game at Pepperdine

Less than four days after losing a close 78-71 game to the No. 3 team in the nation, the Arizona women's basketball team will play its first road game of the season at Pepperdine tonight.

Pepperdine (0-1) is just one team in a long line of tough non-conference opponents for the Wildcats this season.

The Waves also lost their season opener last Friday as they fell to Xavier 62-54 in Malibu, Calif. The team's only scorer in double digits was sophomore forward Shanell Law, with 12 points.

The last five seasons, the Waves have posted 20 wins or better, including a 23-8 record last season and a trip to the NCAA tournament.

"Pepperdine is really good," UA head coach Joan Bonvicini said. "They are very quick, will probably press us and they have good three-point shooters."

Pepperdine returns 10 letterwinners from last year's squad, including All-West Coast Conference guard Damaris Hinojosa. She led the Waves in scoring last year with 13.6 points a game and was fourth in the conference with just under four assists per game.

The Wildcats opened last season at home against the Waves, and beat them 81-77 behind 18 points from senior guard Julie Brase.

A big key in this year's game will be how the Waves try and stop Arizona freshman center Shawntinice Polk. Polk was double-and triple-teamed much of the game against LSU, and she still scored 29 points and grabbed 11 rebounds.

Polk said she expects most teams to try and keep doubling her, but said it only creates a good situation for the team.

"I doesn't bother me," Polk said. "It just means that one of my teammates is open."

In the Wildcats' season-opening loss to LSU on Friday, the team struggled in a couple key areas and will have to improve in those to be successful tonight against the Waves.

The Wildcats turned the ball over 22 times and allowed the Tigers to grab 17 offensive rebounds, many of which led to second-chance points.

"We need to do a better job of rebounding, executing down the stretch and taking care of the ball," Bonvicini said.

Bonvicini said the team would switch up its defense a bit for the game against Pepperdine. She said to expect Arizona to go more to a man-to-man defense rather than the zone the Wildcats played against LSU.

The zone was often exploited, and it allowed the Tiger shooters to get wide-open looks.