CSUN Falls to Pepperdine, 69-63 Despite Second Half Surge

MALIBU, Calif --- The CSUN women's basketball team (5-6, 1-1 Big West) fell to the Pepperdine Waves (8-3), 69-63, Saturday afternoon at Firestone Fieldhouse. Rita Nazario led the scoring with 16 points, nine of which coming in the fourth quarter alone. Saray White scored a career-high 14 points and Nadia Bernard added 14 as well. Lina Falk led all scorers with 18 points for Pepperdine.

HOW IT HAPPENED
The game went back and forth in the opening period with CSUN maintaining a small lead for most of the first. After the Waves jumped out to a 6-2 lead, CSUN went out on an 8-0 run with three-point baskets from Morgan Edwards and Laini Dahlin. Pepperdine had the ball for the final shot of the quarter and it went in, a long distance call from Shorna Preston made it a 12-11 Pepperdine lead heading into the second quarter.

In the second quarter, Pepperdine jumped out to an 11-3 run that was stopped with a long two from Nazario at the 5:27 mark to make it a 23-16 game in favor of the Waves. Pepperdine then went on another run, this time an 8-0 fashion. Nadia Bernard stopped the momentum with a turnaround layup as CSUN went into the locker room down 31-18. CSUN was held to just seven points in the quarter.

2ND HALF
CSUN came out of the gates red hot in the third, opening the quarter on a 14-4 run thanks in large part to three point buckets from Dahlin and Kelly Tumlin. The run was started with an and-one bucket from Saray White. With the 14-4 run, CSUN cut the lead to three at 35-32 as the Waves had to call a timeout to stop the momentum. The Waves hit a three after the timeout, but Dahlin answered with a driving layup at the 5:21 mark. Nadia Bernard then hit a jump shot with 4:15 left in the quarter to cut the lead to two at 38-36 heading into the next media timeout.

White tied the game at 38-38 with 2:38 left to play in the third before Pepperdine took the lead once again. Both teams started trading buckets as the game was now neck-and-neck. CSUN outscored Pepperdine 25-13 in the third as the Waves now held only a one-point lead heading into the final 10 minutes.

The Waves started off the quarter with a 12-1 run. as Pepperdine took control once again. Falk contributed five out of those 12 points for the Waves. White hit a layup to stop the momentum before the Waves drained another three to make it a 14-point lead at 60-46 with 3:50 left remaining in the game. CSUN added three more points before Falk drained a triple from the corner to make it 63-49 with 2:57 to go. Nazario then made her first three-pointer of the game, cutting the lead to 11. Both teams then kept trading baskets.

CSUN was not going down without a fight. The Matadors kept the game close in the final minutes thanks in large part to two big three pointers from Nazario. CSUN would cut the lead to six points with 11 seconds remaining off a bucket from Nazario. Unfortunately, the Waves did hold onto the lead as time expired.

NEWS AND NOTES

CSUN fell despite outscoring Pepperdine 45-38 in the second half.
White's 14 points beat her previous high of 13, set against CSU Bakersfield on Dec. 4
The Matadors shot 58.% in the third quarter, draining 10 out of 17 shots.
Nazario, White and Bernard accounted for 44 of the 63 points cored.
Laini Dahlin tied a career high in minutes played with 35. She also had a career-high 11 rebounds.
The Matadors scored 19 off the bench.

UP NEXT
The Matadors have played their last game of 2025. CSUN will suit up again on New Year's Day at home as it will take on UC Davis in its return to Big West play. The game will be broadcast on ESPN+ with Jill Painter-Lopez on the call.

CSUN Falls to Pepperdine, 69-63 Despite Second Half Surge

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Team Stats

Rita Nazário

Saray White

Nadia Bernard

Laini Dahlin

Players Mentioned

Nadia Bernard

Laini Dahlin

Morgan Edwards

Kelly Tumlin

Saray White