Fipps is fabulous but UCD women drop opener

Sophomore Sydnee Fipps and freshman Molly Greubel got their seasons off to strong starts, but it wasn’t enough as Pepperdine came into The Pavilion on Friday and smacked the UC Davis women, 83-68.

Fipps scored a career-high 19 points, shooting 5-of-7 from the field and 9-of-10 from the free throw line, while Greubel made 3-of-4 field goals — including two 3-pointers — and 8-of-10 foul shots to score 16 points in her collegiate debut.

Idit Oryon added a career-high 12 points for the Aggies, nailing 3-of-4 from beyond the arc, to go with four steals.

However, the rest of the UCD players combined to shoot just 20 percent as the locals lost their season opener for the first time since 2006-07.

Fipps scored the first six points of the game for the Aggies, but Pepperdine went 3-for-3 from 3-point range to take a 9-6 lead, then used an 8-0 run to go up 18-6 with 13:13 left in the first half.

UCD’s Aniya Baker stopped the spurt with a bucket at the 12:29 mark, then Greubel hit back-to-back treys to cut into the Waves’ lead, sparking a 15-4 Aggie run. In fact, UCD pulled to within two, at 31-29, after Oryon hit a 3 with four minutes to play.

The Aggies then closed the half with a jumper by Emily Vann to take a 36-34 deficit into intermission.

Fipps got the second half started in the same way as the first, scoring five quick points. She was fouled on a layup attempt, hit the ensuing free throw for a successful three-point play, then was fouled again and made both free throws to keep UCD within three points.

From there, however, Pepperdine began to pull away as Bria Richardson took a steal coast-to-coast and hit a jumper in the lane. Ea Shoustari’s trey with 13:32 left in the game put the Waves up by seven points at 46-39.

UCD made one last run when Celia Marfone made a free throw, then Oryon sank another 3-point shot to pull her team to within three points.

Pepperdine, though, built a double-digit lead over the next seven minutes, going up 62-51 with 5:30 to play.

Robie Mayberry led all scorers with 22 points as four Waves players finished in double digits.

For the Aggies, Brianna Salvatore grabbed a team-high seven rebounds while Alyson Doherty added six boards.

UCD begins a three-game road trip on Wednesday, traveling to face San Francisco at 7 p.m.