UPCOMING — The Pepperdine women’s basketball team opens its regular season against Cal State Northridge Friday, then goes on the road to play Iowa State on Sunday.

GAME #1 — Friday (Nov. 9) at Firestone Fieldhouse: Pepperdine vs. Cal State Northridge at 7 p.m. The Matadors lost to Cal Poly Pomona (76-72), in overtime in an exhibition contest Friday (Nov. 2). Junior Whitney Ligon was the scoring leader with 15 points.

GAME #2 — Sunday (Nov. 11) at Hilton Coliseum in Ames, Iowa: Pepperdine at Iowa State at 1 p.m. CT/11 a.m. PT. Iowa recorded a 101-38 win over Iowa Wesleyan at their exhibition game on Sunday (Nov. 4). The Cyclones shooting was 64.4 percent from the floor and eight players finished in double figures.

ON THE WEB — Pepperdine fans can catch all home women’s basketball games on the internet at www.pepperdinesports.com. Live video, audio and statistics will be provided. Go to the Pepperdine Athletics website and look for the WaveCasts button.

EXHIBITION #1 RECAP — Sophomore Miranda Ayim (London, Ontario, Canada) scored 16 points and added six blocks and six rebounds to pace the Waves to a 68-46 win over NAIA opponent Westmont on Wednesday (Oct.31). Sophomore Teena Wickett (Oakland, Calif. / Castlemont HS) posted a double-double for the Waves with 12 points and 11 rebounds.

EXHIBITION #2 RECAP — Senior Daphanie Kennedy led the Waves to a 90-41 victory over Cal State Los Angeles, Sunday, (Nov. 4). Kennedy scored 22 points and had seven steals. Pepperdine outscored the Golden Eagles 50-14 in the second half. Miranda Ayim scored 14 points and recorded five steals, while freshman Katie Menton (Yosemite, Calif. / Yosemite HS) registered 11 points, four assists and four steals.

JULIE ROUSSEAU SAYS — "Were looking forward to our first regular season game against Cal State Northridge. It’s great to open the season at home and I hope a lot of people come out to support us," said head coach Rousseau. "Saturday, we leave for a quick road trip to Iowa which will be a great challenge early in the year. Both games will be good experience in which we can draw from."

CLOSING IN ON 1,000 — Senior guard Daphanie Kennedy enters the 2007-08 season needing to score just 85 points to reach 1,000 in her career. She’ll become the 16th player in Pepperdine history to surpass the 1,000-point level. Kennedy scored a total of 915 points in her first three seasons.

ROSTER — All five starters and 10 letter winners return from last year’s team, which went 14-17 overall and fifth in the WCC with a 6-8 record. The Waves added three new players (two true freshmen and one transfer) this year. The roster breakdown is as follows: four seniors, four juniors, three sophomores and two freshmen.

TOP SIX — The WCC’s coaches released a preseason "top six" of the best players in the conference, and senior guard Daphanie Kennedy and sophomore forward/center Teena Wickett earned two of the six slots. Kennedy earned All-WCC first team honors as a sophomore and honorable mention as a junior. Wickett was an All-WCC first teamer as a freshman.

WCC PRESEASON POLL — Pepperdine was picked to finish third in the West Coast Conference in a preseason vote of the league’s coaches. The predicted order is as follows: San Diego, Gonzaga, Pepperdine, Loyola Marymount, Saint Mary’s, San Francisco, Santa Clara and Portland.

JULIE ROUSSEAU — The fifth head coach in Pepperdine women’s basketball history, Julie Rousseau is now in her fourth season with the Waves. She is a former head coach of the WNBA’s Los Angeles Sparks and was an assistant coach at Stanford before joining the Waves. In just her second season, she led Pepperdine to a WCC Tournament title and a spot in the 2006 NCAA Tournament.

SERVICE — The women’s basketball team is one of the most involved teams at Pepperdine in community service. On November 23-24, they will host their second annual Time Out 4 HIV/AIDS Tournament to promote awareness and raise money to fight the disease. In October, they participated in a two-mile walk to support The Leukemia-Lymphoma Society, and on Thanksgiving, the team will spend the day feeding the homeless in downtown Los Angeles. All of this involvement, Rousseau believes, is the key to success in life and on the court – which is giving to others and making the world a better place.

PEPPERDINE HISTORY — Pepperdine has posted a winning record in 10 of the last 14 years and has registered six 20-win seasons over the past 10 years. The Waves captured the program’s first-ever West Coast Conference Tournament title in 2002 and followed that up with victories in 2003 and 2006. Pepperdine has also won at least a share of the regular-season championship in four of the last nine seasons. Pepperdine has made the postseason in seven of the last nine years, including the NCAA Tournament four times. The Waves also played in the Women’s National Invitation Tournament three times in recent years.

WAVES IN THE PROS — Rasheeda Clark, who played for the Waves from 1999-2001 and was the 2000 WCC Player of the Year, became the school’s first-ever player to be chosen in the WNBA Draft (however, she didn’t end up making a team). Then, Jennifer Lacy became the first WCC women’s basketball player to make a WNBA roster, as she won a spot with the Phoenix Mercury in 2006. Lacy was then part of the Mercury’s 2007 WNBA championship squad.

FIRESTONE FIELDHOUSE — Firestone Fieldhouse opened on Nov. 30, 1973.