Bucknell's Walls can't 'pass up' Pepperdine

Apr. 15—Bucknell senior Marly Walls said she could "not pass up" the opportunity to continue her basketball and academic careers at Pepperdine next season.

So after Walls gets her diploma in late May, she's headed to the West Coast Conference to join the Waves as a graduate transfer in Malibu, California.

"That was one of the reasons I chose Pepperdine — the academic side I couldn't pass up," said Walls, who will pursue a master's degree in global business.

Plus, she said the location was beautiful and checks two items off the list she made of places she looking to play — warm weather and someplace she's hasn't lived before.

One of the biggest things for Walls, who is from Kentucky, was how she will fit into the basketball program. She found a home with the Waves after whittling down dozens of schools in less than a month.

"One of the main things they were lacking was leadership and experience," Walls said. "Me and TG (Theresa Grace Mbanefo) — the other commit from Cornell — are going to bring that."

Walls averaged career-highs of 7.6 points and 3.4 assists per game as a senior. Those numbers were slightly higher than her sophomore season when she was off to a great start before a knee injury ended her season after 15 games.

Walls will graduate with 493 points in 91 career games, 49 starts.

She said the goal is be the Waves' starting point guard from Day 1, but that she knows she'll have to work hard to grab that role.

Walls will be bringing plenty of experience to a Pepperdine program that was mostly freshmen and sophomores last season.

"Playing four years of college basketball gives you an advantage over a 17-, 18-year-old high school kid who has never been to a college practice, never gone through college academics, never done a college weightlifting program," Bucknell coach Trevor Woodruff said. "That gives them a track record where you know they're ready to play college basketball."